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Adobe’s decision to go all-in with a cloud version of its Creative Suite and dump the packaged software that accounts for most of its $4.1 billion annual revenue really isn’t as revolutionary as some portrayed it. Here’s why.

First, the new Creative Cloud subscription version, as GigaOM commenters pointed out, must still be downloaded and installed locally. That makes it different from the traditional Software-as-a-Service model pioneered by Salesforce.com. Such downloads are no mean feat because, depending on the version purchased, the suite includes Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver and an array of other products depending on the version purchased. That’s a lot of bits to suck down.

But the difference now is, users must keep paying to use the software — they can’t sit on a six-year old copy of Photoshop. While Adobe said it will continue to support the current Creative Suite 6, all new features and perks will flow to Creative Cloud only.  Sanford Bernstein Senior Analyst Mark Moerdler estimates that 6.2 million of a total 12.8 million Creative Suite users are on aged versions while 4.1 million are on the latest Creative 6 version. And about a half million are using the year-old Creative Cloud, he told me in an interview.

Instead of charging a couple hundred dollars for a packaged product – Creative Suite 6 can “list” for $2500, but people who upgrade from any previous version can get it for $600 — the new “cloud” version will cost $50 per user per month (again depending on the version). If you do the math, that nets out to be $600 a year. But the move to a subscription won’t be a wash for Adobe: it will be getting its license fees over the course of a year, but it will be getting them as long as the users use the product.

The risk of course is that users without fast broadband links will be left in the cold. And, if users are shelling out money every month, they’re really going to expect valuable feature enhancements and updates to come fast and the update process itself  to be unobtrusive.

Legacy software players — move or die

Adobe has seen its share of woes over the past decade. Apple’s decision to stop supporting Flash hit the company like a ton of bricks. Flash had been nearly ubiquitous in animating web pages and Adobe was working to make it more relevant in the mobile apps world. Apple’s decision to go in another direction with iPhone made that difficult. Adobe “saw its up-and-coming Flash technology, the anchor of much of its design product line a few years ago [get] banned from the most important technology platform to come in decades,” IDC analyst Al Hilwa told me via email.

Then the recession hit Adobe’s high-end and most expensive creative software, as ad and marketing agencies and publishing companies cut spending to the bone. But, in Hilwa’s view, Adobe managed this painful transition  well and has made a good start moving its desktop user base to the cloud.

Moerdler is similarly bullish.  Adobe, he said, figured it was getting $30 per user per month in revenue now. “So, with Creative Cloud they entice you with a $29.99 first year deal that goes to $49.99 next year for the suite — or for the team version $49.99 per user per month now and $69.99 per user per month later.”

In a research note predating the shut down of packaged software upgrades, Moerdler said Adobe is confident of winning over 4 million Creative Cloud users by 2015.

“Management believes the Creative Cloud will attract subscribers as it offers superior value (frequent updates, low price point, cloud storage, community). In addition, the viral nature of the Creative Cloud, the team edition, and the existing pool of free members will help drive additional subscribers.”

Shift to new delivery model dampens short-term earnings

This transition means Adobe won’t get big one-off license fees paid up front from enterprise customers, but get that revenue instead spread over the course of the software’s useable life span. Smoothing out those payments has actually been the goal for many software companies, including Microsoft, for years. They first tried to even things out via their multi-year enterprise licensing plans and then in their moves to SaaS. Still the transition to subscriptions from lump sum payments means that revenue must be deferred rather than booked all at once. That means growth in online subscriptions can look like sinking earnings, at least in the early stage of the process.

No doubt Adobe has struggled. But it is willing to drop old practices in hopes of finding something that works.

“This is a huge shift and Adobe is walking the talk,” Constellation Research CEO Ray Wang said via email. “More important, they have a disconnected mode, a community and all the tools for the creative class.”

He noted that Adobe has faced increasing competition with freeware but struck back with this new delivery model. “They disrupted themselves when they could,” he said.

The question now is whether Microsoft and other traditional software players — which are hedging their bets between packaged and cloud-based gear — will follow suit.

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Zalicus Inc., a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company, announced that it has entered into a stock purchase agreement with Lincoln Park Capital Fund. Under the terms of the deal, Zalicus has the right to sell up to $25 million in shares of its common stock to Lincoln Park.

PRESS RELEASE
Zalicus Inc. (Nasdaq Capital Market: ZLCS), a biopharmaceutical company that discovers and develops novel treatments for patients suffering from pain, today announced that it has entered into a stock purchase agreement with Lincoln Park Capital Fund, LLC (“Lincoln Park”) an institutional investor. Under the terms of the agreement, Zalicus has the right to sell up to $25,000,000 in shares of its common stock to Lincoln Park subject to certain limitations and conditions set forth in the purchase agreement.

Upon executing the agreement, Lincoln Park made an initial purchase of $2.0 million in shares of Zalicus common stock at a purchase price of $0.605 per share. Zalicus has the right, at its sole discretion, over a period of two years to sell up to an additional $23.0 million in shares of its common stock to Lincoln Park under the terms set forth in the agreement. Zalicus will control the timing and amount of any common stock sales to Lincoln Park. The agreement may be terminated by Zalicus at any time, at its sole discretion, without any cost or penalty. Proceeds from any sales of stock will be used for general corporate purposes, including ongoing research and development, and may also be used to repay outstanding indebtedness or to acquire or invest in complementary businesses, products and technologies. A more detailed description of the purchase agreement is set forth in Zalicus’s current report on Form 8-K recently filed with the SEC.

“We remain committed to the advancement of our promising ion channel research and development programs, including our clinical candidates Z160, Z944 and our Nav 1.7 discovery program. This arrangement with Lincoln Park is an attractive financing alternative for Zalicus at this time because it provides us with flexible access to capital on an as-needed basis as we work to obtain the results from the clinical trials of our lead product candidates Z160 and Z944 later this year,” commented Mark H.N. Corrigan, MD, President and CEO of Zalicus.

About Zalicus

Zalicus Inc. (Nasdaq Global Market: ZLCS) is a biopharmaceutical company that discovers and develops novel treatments for patients suffering from pain. Zalicus has a portfolio of proprietary clinical-stage product candidates targeting pain such as Z160 and Z944 and has entered into multiple revenue-generating collaborations with large pharmaceutical companies relating to other products, product candidates and drug discovery technologies. Zalicus applies its expertise in the discovery and development of selective ion channel modulators and its combination high throughput screening capabilities to discover innovative therapeutics for itself and its collaborators in the areas of pain, inflammation, oncology and infectious disease. To learn more about Zalicus, please visit www.zalicus.com.

About Lincoln Park Capital Fund, LLC (“LPC”)

LPC is an institutional investor headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. LPC’s experienced professionals manage a portfolio of investments in public and private entities. These investments are in a wide range of companies and industries emphasizing life sciences, specialty financing, energy and technology. LPC’s investments range from multiyear financial commitments to fund growth to special situation financings to long-term strategic capital offering companies certainty, flexibility and consistency. For more information, visit www.lpcfunds.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 concerning Zalicus, its product candidates, their potential, and its plans for clinical development, its financial condition and financial plans, and other business plans. These forward-looking statements about future expectations, plans, objectives and prospects of Zalicus and its product candidates may be identified by words like “believe,” “expect,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “seek,” “plan,” “project” or “could” and similar expressions and involve significant risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including risks related to the risks related to the formulation and clinical development of its product candidates Z160 and Z944, the unproven nature of the Zalicus ion channel drug discovery technology, Zalicus’s ability to obtain additional financing or funding for its research and development, and those other risks that can be found in the “Risk Factors” section of Zalicus’ annual report on Form 10-K on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the other reports that Zalicus periodically files with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Actual results may differ materially from those Zalicus contemplated by these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements reflect management’s current views and Zalicus does not undertake to update any of these forward-looking statements to reflect a change in its views or events or circumstances that occur after the date of this release except as required by law.

This press release does not and shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of any offer to buy any of the securities, nor shall there be any sale of the securities, in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state.

The post Lincoln Park Backs Publicly Traded Zalicus appeared first on peHUB.

Google Fiber may be coming to more cities around the country, but the company is still solely focused on building out its current Fiber network in Kansas City. It probably won’t be done there for a while either as more neighboring cities are welcoming Google Fiber with open arms.

Google announced this week that the town of Grandview, Missouri has recently voted in favor of bringing Google Fiber to the city. Grandview is directly South of Kansas City and borders the current Google Fiber buildout plans. It ensures that Google will be able to just keep building down into Grandview from Kansas City.

Just like every other bordering town, however, Grandview will have to wait its turn. Google is still building out Fiber in Kansas City proper, and the company notes that it must plan and engineer the network in Grandview first before bringing Fiber over.

Regardless, it’s an encouraging sign to see more and more cities signing up for Fiber, even if those cities directly border Kansas City. It shows that interest in gigabit Internet is high despite claims to the contrary from incumbent ISPs.

Aside from the buildout around Kansas City, Google Fiber will also be coming to Austin, Texas and Provo, Utah in the future. The latter already has an established Fiber network that Google just bought from the city so it may come there sooner than the planned rollout in Austin.

In an encouraging sign, Google Fiber and other Fiber initiatives around the country have seemingly inspired smaller ISPs to start offering gigabit Internet to their customers. The most recent being a small rural ISP in Vermont offering gigabit speeds to customers for only $35 a month.

The Amelia Island Concours is quickly becoming the Pebble Beach of the East Coast. Once a year some of the most stunning vehicles in the world gather for one simple task – to celebrate mechanized transportation. The goal this year was to celebrate 50 years of the Ford GT40, 50 years of Lamborghini, 50 years of the Porsche 911, 50 years of the Corvette Stingray, and Ducati motorcycle as a whole. The video is almost 16-minutes in length, but if you have the time, I fully encourage you to watch it in its entirety.

Source: Vimeo.com

With no jackpot winners in the month of April, the Powerball Jackpot has now risen to an incredible $222 million. There were no jackpot winners for Saturday’s (May 4) drawing, and also no ‘Match 5′ winners, who would have won a $2 million payout. Though no big payouts came this weekend, over one million people across the U.S. won a combined $11.2 million in prizes.

The Mega Millions jackpot has also been growing, and now sits at $154 million. There were also no Mega Millions jackpot winners for Tuesday’s drawing.

Though the odds of any one person winning are, obviously, low, stories constantly pop up to remind players that the odds of someone eventually winning are certain. Just this week, a California woman who accidentally purchased an extra SuperLotto Plus ticket won $14 million for her mistake.

As previously reported, Google has been running a Google doodle honoring Saul Bass in parts of the world where it is May 8th. The doodle has now worked its way over to our neck of the woods in the U.S.

Saul Bass was an American graphic designer who passed away in April of 1996. May 8th is his birthday (he was born in 1920).

Even if you have never heard of Saul Bass, it’s nearly impossible to not be familiar with at least some of his work. You can watch Google’s doodle animation, and see if anything sticks out to you.

Bass is mostly known for designing film title sequences, film posters, and corporate logos. Some of his most famous work includes the title sequence to Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, and the AT&T and Bell logos. He also designed the logos for Continental and United Airlines.

Following is a list of his work.

Film title sequences:

Carmen Jones (1954)
The Big Knife (1955)
The Man with the Golden Arm (1955)
The Racers (1955)
The Seven Year Itch (1955)
The Shrike (1955)
Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
Storm Center (1956)
Attack (1956)
Edge of the City (1957)
Saint Joan (1957)
The Pride and the Passion (1957)
The Young Stranger (1957)
Bonjour Tristesse (1958)
Cowboy (1958)
Vertigo (1958)
The Big Country (1958)
Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
North by Northwest (1959)
Psycho (1960)
Spartacus (1960)
The Facts of Life (1960)
Exodus (1960)
Ocean’s 11 (1960)
West Side Story (1961)
Something Wild (1961)
Advise and Consent (1962)
Walk on the Wild Side (1962)
The Victors (1963)
Nine Hours to Rama (1963)
It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
The Cardinal (1963)
In Harm’s Way (1965)
Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965)
Grand Prix (1966)
Not with My Wife, You Don’t! (1966)
Seconds (1966)
Such Good Friends (1971)
That’s Entertainment, Part II (1976)
Broadcast News (1987)
Big (1988)
The War of the Roses (1989)
Goodfellas (1990)
Cape Fear (1991)
Doc Hollywood (1991)
Mr. Saturday Night (1992)
The Age of Innocence (1993)
Higher Learning (1995)
Casino (1995)

Movie posters:

Carmen Jones (1954)
The Man with the Golden Arm (1955)
Edge of the City (1956)
Storm Center (1956)
Love in the Afternoon (1957)
Saint Joan (1957)
Bonjour Tristesse (1958)
The Big Country (1958) (style b poster)
Vertigo (1958)
Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
Exodus (1960)
The Magnificent Seven (1960) (design not used)
One, Two, Three (1961)
Advise & Consent (1962)
It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
The Cardinal (1963)
In Harm’s Way (1964)
Bunny Lake is Missing (1965)
The Firemen’s Ball (1967)
The Two of Us (1967)
Why Man Creates (1968)
Very Happy Alexander (1969)
Exodus (1960)
The Magnificent Seven (1960) (design not used)
One, Two, Three (1961)
Advise & Consent (1962)
It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
The Cardinal (1963)
In Harm’s Way (1964)
Bunny Lake is Missing (1965)
The Firemen’s Ball (1967)
The Two of Us (1967)
Why Man Creates (1968)
Very Happy Alexander (1969)
Such Good Friends (1971)
Rosebud (1975)
Brothers (1977)
Notes on the Popular Arts (1977)
Bass on Titles (1978)
The Human Factor (1979)
The Shining (1980)
The Solar Film (1980)
Return from the River Kwai (1989)
Schindler’s List (1993)

Logos and designs:

Alcoa (1963)
AT&T Corporation (1969 and 1983)
Avery International (1975)
Boys & Girls Clubs of America (1980)
Celanese (1965)
Continental Airlines (1968)[10]
Dixie (1969)
Frontier Airlines (1978)
Fuller Paints (1962)
Geffen Records (1980)
General Foods (1984)
Girl Scouts of the USA (1978)
Japan Energy Corporation (1993)
J. Paul Getty Trust (1993)
Kibun Foods (1984)
Kose Cosmetics (1991)
Lawry’s Foods (1959)
Minami Sports (1991)
Minolta (1978)
NCR Corporation (1996)
Quaker Oats (1969)
Rockwell International (1968)
Security Pacific Bank (1966)
United Airlines (1974)
United Way (1972)
US Postage (1983)[11]
Warner Communications (1974)
Wienerschnitzel (1978)
Wesson Oil (1964)
YWCA (1988)

(Photo: Mark Imbriaco via Twitter)

“Does your datacenter cage have SportsCenter?” This photo tweet yesterday by Mark Imbriaco, who works on the Technical Operations team at GitHub, was too good not to share. Imbriaco, who has previously worked at LivingSocial, Salesforce.com, Heroku, 37Signals and AOL, has clearly seen more than few cages in his time, and knows the value of some customization.

We recently shared the trend toward worker-friendly amenities in newer data center projects. But Imbriaco’s tweet raises another aspect of this issue: what are the best ways to personalize space within your cages and data center suites? Share your favorites in our comments.

Blackstone Group LP plans to sell the 23.4 million shares of General Growth Properties Inc. it holds in four funds that were used to help the mall company emerge from bankruptcy more than two years ago, Reuters reported. The sale essentially means Blackstone has exited General Growth, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Factoring in the cost of the shares, which also included 5 million warrants and later the spin-off of Rouse Properties Inc , the fund’s investment effectively was about $8.50 and $9 per share. Based on the price of General Growth on Tuesday, the sale would translate into a gross profit of between 154 percent and 169 percent.

(Reuters) – Blackstone Group LP plans to sell the 23.4 million shares of General Growth Properties Inc it holds in four funds that were used to help the mall company emerge from bankruptcy more than two years ago, General Growth said on Tuesday.

The sale essentially means Blackstone has exited General Growth, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Factoring in the cost of the shares, which also included 5 million warrants and later the spin-off of Rouse Properties Inc , the fund’s investment effectively was about $8.50 and $9 per share. Based on the price of General Growth on Tuesday, the sale would translate into a gross profit of between 154 percent and 169 percent.

“Blackstone has a finite timeline on its investment,” Green Street Advisors analyst Cedrik Lachance said. “I think it’s harvesting the profits from a highly successful investment.”

Blackstone began selling its funds’ shares in August last year. It later sold back the warrants to General Growth in January.

General Growth shares were down 2 percent, or 47 cents, at $22.86 in afternoon trading.

The post Reuters – Blackstone to Sell Stake in General Growth Properties appeared first on peHUB.

According to CNet…

The U.S. Senate on Monday approved a controversial bill by more than a 2-to-1 margin that would allow states to levy taxes on Internet purchases.

The Marketplace Fairness Act, which would allow states to require online vendors to collect sales and use tax on certain out-of-state purchases, was approved in a bipartisan vote of 69 to 27. The bill, which already has the support of President Obama, will now move on to the House of Representatives.

If approved, the bill would overturn a 1992 Supreme Court ruling that found out-of-state retailers generally don’t have to collect taxes unless they have a sufficient business presence. The bill, officially known as S.743, does include an exception for businesses that make under $1 million a year in revenue.

I’ve written about the Marketplace Fairness Act in the past. The push to tax has come from two fronts. First large businesses, especially those with a brick and mortar presence who are already paying taxes. Second local governments have been pushing to increase tax base. The push against the tax has come from small businesses and entrepreneurs – and I suppose folks who harken back to the early days of the Internet when there was a feeling of wilderness and self-policing.

How many memorable video ads about phones have you seen so far? Off the top of my head I can only think of just two recent ones, both released by Microsoft. The first one is from late-October, last year, and features Steve Ballmer discussing his HTC Windows Phone 8X and the second, unveiled little over a week ago, stars the Lumia 920 in an Android vs iOS fanboy war at a wedding.

Both videos are memorable in the sense that they allow us, the viewers, to actually relate to the folks presented in the two scenarios. We are users of different social networks, send and receive emails and messages each day, have friends who are Android or iOS fanboys and so on. Now, by contrast, Nokia’s new Lumia 928 video ad is one of the weakest attempts at wooing viewers. It lacks any sort of panache or wit.

The video ad pits the Lumia 928 against Apple’s iPhone 5 and Samsung’s Galaxy S III in a low-light video shoot during a carousel ride at Adventureland, in Farmingdale, New York. The first thing that crossed my mind is: “Why is Nokia trying so hard to beat last year’s flagships?”

Yes, they are both very popular today but the Galaxy S4 is already here touting better features than its predecessor and the iPhone 5 is nearly eight months old. Is Nokia trying to tell us that it can release a smartphone with a better camera when the competition is close to oblivion? If so then job well done, Nokia.

Upon further and closer inspection, the ad presents a different problem — when displaying the side-by-side comparisons, the videos shot with the three smartphones are not even synced. This would be fine had this been an amateurish comparison, but it bears Nokia’s logo.

The results are obvious — the Lumia 928 takes the crown.

I tend to take any shootouts coming from the Finnish manufacturer with a grain of salt. Nokia has already screwed things up once by faking a video. Allegedly shot with the Lumia 920, in the ad a professional-grade camera was used instead. Considering how easy it is to manipulate the outcome of any shootout, it sure looks like Nokia could detail the testing procedures a bit.

Kobo bills its new e-reader, the Aura HD, as the “Porsche of e-readers” — an e-ink touchscreen Wi-Fi device that justifies its $169.99 price tag with a large, high-resolution front-lit screen. I tested the Aura HD and found the screen lovely, but the overall device not worth the price.

Look and feel: Plasticky

Out of the box, the Aura HD is ugly to my eye: White (it also comes in black and brown) and plasticky-looking. The Aura’s back is indented to make it easier to hold, and it’s nice to have the grooves there; I found it about as comfortable to hold as a hardcover book.

Because the Aura HD is larger and slightly heavier than most e-readers, though, it’s less comfortable to hold than a smaller e-reader, meaning that any benefit from the indented back is effectively canceled out. It has a 6.8-inch screen, compared to the standard six inches, and weighs 8.5 ounces (the Kobo Glo weighs 6.5 ounces; the Kindle Paperwhite weighs 7.8 ounces).

There are only two buttons on the Aura buttons: An ugly red power switch (why can’t it be metallic?) and a white button that turns on the light.

The screen: Great light, crisp text

The screen is the best part of the Aura HD. Kobo says that the screen’s resolution, 265 dpi, is the highest on the market, and text is indeed crisp.

To turn on the light, you press the button on the top of the Aura and it turns on at 100 percent brightness. You can’t adjust the light’s brightness through the button, though; rather, you have to tap a lightbulb icon on the Aura’s screen to adjust the brightness.

The light itself is great. It spreads evenly across the screen and is noticeably better than the light on the Kobo Glo when the two devices are compared side by side — the light on the Aura is a little softer, and less fluorescent-looking.

The reading interface: I want my home button

Tap the center of the screen, at the bottom, to pull up the menu — including the home icon, light adjustment icon, font options, etc. It’s the trend now for e-readers to have no physical home button, and I miss them; once you’ve used an iPad or iPhone, you’re in the habit of tapping something below the screen and you notice when it’s not there.

Page turns and refreshes are perfectly speedy. Kobo says the Aura’s 1 GHz processor is 20 percent faster than others on the market, but I didn’t find the page turns noticeably faster when compared to other new e-readers.

Bottom line: Nice screen, but not worth the cost

Yep, the Aura HD’s screen is great. While I was testing the Aura, I compared it to the Kobo Glo, and there is no doubt, when the devices are side by side, that the Aura’s screen is superior.

In real life, though, most users don’t have two e-readers open at the same time, and when it’s just you and the Aura, the device’s deficiencies detract from its great screen. I simply don’t like the Aura’s larger form factor and the extra bulk that it adds. And apart from the screen, the device feels cheap — from the buttons to the plasticky design to the fact that the Aura includes a USB cable for charging but no AC adapter (since it’s supposed to be high-end, why not include that little extra?)

Kobo says the Aura is aimed at avid readers who aren’t particularly price-sensitive, but even those who don’t care that this device is $40 more than the Glo (and $50 more than the ad-supported Kindle Paperwhite or the Nook with Glow Light) shouldn’t automatically trade up: The Aura’s added bulk is not a luxury feature.

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Mr. Rogers was so insanely influential to a generation of kids–and possibly their kids–that it’s hard to believe a biopic hasn’t already been done about him. But never fear, Neighborhood Kids: it’s coming.

Deadline reported that Treehouse Pictures has snatched up the spec script written by Alexis Jolly, whose credits include writing for the Ellen Degeneres Show. Looks like they’ll be casting to fill those iconic sneakers pretty soon.

“Fred Rogers was such an inspirational man for so many people,” said Justin Nappi of Treehouse. “His keen ability to find the good in anyone, or anything, will make for a truly inspiring cinematic experience. In literally shaping the world around him to fit into his own unique perspective, he created what is arguably the most influential American children’s television show of all time.”

So who’s going to play the soft-spoken icon? MSNBC has a poll going on with some of their favorites, which include “Big Bang Theory” star Jim Parsons and “Mad Men” actor Vincent Kartheiser. Head on over and give them your vote.

Adobe is making headlines this week with its controversial decision to discontinue development of Creative Suite in favor of Creative Cloud, but that’s not all we’re seeing from its annual MAX Conference. ColdFusion, Adobe’s Web development software, is the subject of a recent whitepaper that details where the software is at and where it’s headed in the future.

Adobe sponsored a whitepaper from IDC called “Turning Up the Heat with ColdFusion,” and it’s mostly what you would expect from a company-sponsored analysis of its own software. There’s heaps of praise thrown upon ColdFusion for its ease of use while offering all the tools professionals need to build and scale enterprise grade Web sites.

That’s all fine and dandy, but the whitepaper gets really interesting once it gets into future developments. It provides some early details on where Adobe is heading with future versions of ColdFusion. For ColdFusion Server, Adobe has two new releases on the horizon that will add a number of features and enhancements:

Adobe has discussed the broad outline of the next two releases of ColdFusion server — Splendor and Dazzle. In between releases, the team has continued to work on other aspects. For example, support for the popular Amazon cloud in the form of a Splendor AMI was released in early 2013, providing users with a quick and simplified approach to deploying ColdFusion applications in the Amazon cloud. The key thematic areas of improvements for Splendor include bringing ColdFusion into the era of mobile
application development and support for social applications. Special emphasis is planned for additional security features, building on the significant security work done for release 10 and taking its priorities from the OWASP Top Ten Project. Improved manageability and deployment as well as revamped and new PDF integration functionality are also planned.

For the Dazzle release, expansion of the mobile platform support capabilities and support for multiscreen content are planned. Dazzle is also expected to carry the water for Adobe’s aggressive push into the digital marketing space by introducing deeper Web, mobile, and social analytics functionality. A customizable enterprise video portal is also planned, and capabilities that will enable ColdFusion to run in cloud environments in major cloud platforms are expected in the Dazzle release. Finally, the improvements are expected to be accompanied by a strong focus on security, extending the work done with Splendor and prioritizing mobile security according to the OWASP Mobile Security Project.

As for ColdFusion Builder, Adobe plans to also release two new versions to coincide with the Server releases:

Adobe has also identified key work areas for two future releases of ColdFusion Builder. The Thunder release is expected to play a key role in the end-to-end development workflow for mobile application development as well as provide a professional JavaScript authoring experience. Focus on new developers will be delivered with new workflows around a “getting started” scenario. The following release, code-named Blizzard, is expected to coincide with the Dazzle server release and to feature one-click multiscreen support, deployment support in line with Dev/Ops integration trends, and improved test and debug workflows.

The rest of the whitepaper catalogs the various challenges facing ColdFusion, and how Adobe can turn those challenges into opportunities. It also contains a variety of case studies from various software development houses. You can read up on all of that here.

With roots that go back 10 years, you could say Chegg is an old hand when it comes to education technology. But the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company that made its name as a textbook rental site still wants a piece of the newest big thing.

On Wednesday, Chegg, which now bills itself as an online “student hub,” said that it is partnering with ed tech darling du jour, Coursera, to provide digital content, including textbooks and other materials, to students enrolled in its massive open online courses (MOOCs).

Through the partnership, Coursera students will be able to purchase Chegg material, as well as receive some publisher content for free. They will also be able to make use of other Chegg features, including Q&A forums, search and highlight options. Coursera students could still purchase content from other sources, but the company said it offers lower prices than other vendors and students wouldn’t benefit from the social options connected to Chegg content.

The companies declined to share financial details of the deal. And, when asked whether similar partnerships with other MOOC providers edX and Udacity might be on the horizon, CEO Dan Rosenweig said, “Our vision is to become the leading connected learning platform… We’re not going to limit ourselves to anything.”

MOOC providers have faced more vocal challengers in recent months, but this deal underscores their steadily growing influence. Even if their completion rates hover around just 10 percent, Chegg clearly wants to be able to get in front of the millions of learning-focused eyeballs that are being drawn to Coursera.

Until now, Coursera professors have only been able to require supplemental content that is available for free on the web and recommend textbooks. Chegg said it will enable the MOOC provider to make some publisher-created content available for free during the course. Students will then have the option to purchase the full eTextbook from Chegg for continued learning after the course.

As of the partnership’s launch, just two courses will offer Chegg content but, over the next few months, the companies said it will expand to several dozen of the site’s 370 courses.

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The Phoenix Suns announced this week that Ryan McDonough has been named the general manager of the NBA team. The 33-year-old McDonough will be officially placed as the GM during an event at the US Airways Center on Thursday.

“Ryan distinguished himself among an impressive group of candidates for our GM position,” said Lon Babby, president of basketball operations with the Suns. “His natural leadership and communication skills will serve the Suns well. And, his prodigious work ethic and ability to identify talent will enable us to take full advantage of the 10 draft choices, including six in the first round, that we have over the next three years. We welcome his championship pedigree to our organization.”

McDonough began his NBA career in 2003 as a special assistant to basketball operations with the Boston Celtics. In that position, McDonough was heavily involved in scouting work.

Most recently McDonough served as the assistant general manager of the Boston Celtics. According to the Suns, his experience in draft evaluation and scouting will make him perfect for the organization, considering the team’s six first-round draft picks over the next three years.

The first installment of the four-part Sorcery! series created by Steve Jackson in early ‘80s has recently made its debut on iOS platform.

Unlike other tablet-top games that encourage multiplayer gaming, Sorcery! is all about single-playing. The title presents itself as an adventure gamebook series that mixes RPG elements and a unique combat system.
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Graduation season is upon us — and that means approximately 700,000 U.S. students will be receiving master’s degrees and another 150,000 or so will be getting their doctorates. For some, the path forward is clear: the math experts will be snapped up by hedge funds, the software engineers will have their pick of start-ups, and elite investment banks and consultancies will duke it out for the top MBAs. But a significant number of those students will fling off their mortarboards only to find themselves bereft of job prospects.

Fourteen years ago, that was me. I was graduating with a master’s degree in theological studies; aiming for a career in academia, I had been utterly unconcerned about the practical applicability of my degree. But when I was turned down by every doctoral program I applied to, I suddenly needed a plan to earn a living. That led to a variety of professional adventures, ranging from journalism to documentary film-making to nonprofit management to serving as a presidential campaign spokesperson.

But one of the hardest parts of the journey was the initial step — entering the workforce after two years of rigorous graduate studies and explaining my degree (no, I wasn’t training to become a minister) and, even more critically, its value in the marketplace. If you’ve earned a graduate degree that puts you on a less-than-certain professional trajectory — one that naysayers may even declare “useless” — here are a few strategies that have worked for me.

The truth is, your subject matter knowledge may be irrelevant to anything going on in the business world today. Expert in ancient Roman politics? Biblical exegesis? South American literature? Anyone will want you at their dinner party — but maybe not working at their company. That’s why you need to emphasize your skills, not your content expertise. In college (studying philosophy) and in divinity school, I learned to read abstruse texts with careful comprehension, and fashion tight, logical arguments. That’s an applicable business skill, even if witty badinage about the writings of Thomas Aquinas is not.

Next, you’ll want to position yourself as a potential fount of innovation. How so? Check out the writings of thinkers like Frans Johansson, who argues in The Medici Effect that the best ideas arise from interdisciplinary intersections. You’re never going to win the argument that you’re better qualified than someone who has studied a relevant business discipline — or who has worked in the field for years. So don’t even try. You’re differently qualified, and your unique perspective may be just what the company needs to move to the next level.

You’ll also want to cite your work experience. Many graduate students serve as research assistants, teaching fellows, or writing-center tutors — and you may even have had internships in your field. Those provide valuable “real-world” credentials that will likely be more impressive to potential employers than your degree itself. Can you lead and inspire those in your charge (i.e., a classroom full of twenty skeptical undergrads)? Bridge cultural divides by enabling non-native English speakers to better express themselves? Solve difficult research challenges and unearth crucial facts? Those are abilities that any workplace would covet.

Finally, I’ve found that my theology degree serves another, unexpected purpose: it allows me to make meaningful connections with the people around me. Some could care less, of course. But others have a personal interest in religion or theology; when they find out about my studies, they’re eager to talk and share their own stories. I’ve seen personal sides of colleagues that never would have come out otherwise — their longing to find a calling, or their own faith journey. In a world where business is driven by personal connections, it’s been a powerful vehicle to engage deeply with others. Many people have strong feelings about, or interest in, religion. But even if it’s a shared interest in geography, or urban planning, or British literature, it can be a powerful way to cement a relationship.

In practical terms, my theology degree wasn’t relevant to my subsequent professional life (though I did finally make it into academia, teaching at business schools in addition to my work as a strategy consultant). But it was very relevant to my development as a human being. Grad school may or may not be worth it, depending on your individual goals and circumstances. But if you’ve taken the plunge and are now entering the work world, you owe it to yourself to make the best case possible in explaining its value to others.

Hani Elbeyali is a data center strategist for Dell. He has 18 years of IT experience and is the author of Business Demand Design methodology (B2D), which details how to align your business drivers with your IT strategy.

HANI ELBEYALI
Dell

Even when IT investments are showing positive business results, how could you prove beyond any doubt that this positive impact was attributed to IT investments? Maybe the improvement is due to external economic factors, shift in market demands or weak competition strategy. Not only measuring and reporting the benefits to the business is fundamental, but also how and what to measure are equally as important. These correct metrics will support your efforts in realizing and sustaining IT value.

IT is Core to the Organization

Reporting to management on IT should not mean using IT jargon. This doesn’t help IT and can be counterproductive because the unfamiliar language causes the IT department to be seen as an outsider to the organization’s core.

Imagine that the CIO is walking into a board meeting, the head of the sales department reports on the execution strategy to meet the organization’s financial target, while the CMO reports on the globalization strategy to reach new customers, and the CFO report the financial health of the organization. Now comes the CIO’s turn to report on IT, and he/she starts by talking about the data center PUE ratio, the new ERP modernization project, the unified fabric offerings, and more abstractly, the cloud.

Immediately, everyone in the room puts their heads down, then looks at each other. There’s confusion everywhere – no one understands what this jargon really means. They are asking, “How does any of that IT stuff enable them to perform their business and compete? Why the CIO is even here?” And so on. This type of communication cements the notion that IT is not core to the organization; that it’s only supporting function. What exacerbates the issue is the attitude that if IT is not core to the organization, then, why not outsource it? Or out-task some functions at cheaper price, at minimum.

What to Measure and Communicate are the Real Issues

I certainly agree, showing IT’s value to the enterprise is challenging. The problem is not the value IT creates, but what to measure and how to communicate this value. Current practices in IT performance measurement, metrics and reporting do not help, because they concentrate on reporting how IT spends money, rather than the value created from the spending.

Businesses usually measure success in monetary values, profits and losses, and attainable financial targets. Investments in IT are made only in initiatives yielding positive return on investment (ROI). In many cases, IT projects are long term, the ROI comes in long payback periods, which is not attractive proposition to the business. Charge back and re-allocation makes things worst, because each line of business argues why they are paying too much. As a result, to change the perception of IT into business driver, you must stop reporting on hardware and software performance, start reporting the contribution of IT to the success of the business.

What Happens If IT Impacts On Business Are Reported Correctly

To best demonstrate the technology attribution to the business, and what executives are expecting to see when reporting to management, take a look at the report example provided in table 1.0, this example report¹ is for a mid-size organization. Keep in mind this report is for illustration only; the intent is to shows what important factors relating to report on to the business unites for the past quarter.
Click to enlarge.

Communicating IT Value

The report sample above speaks the same language of the business and it reflects IT attribution to the business the past quarter:

• IT expense as percentage of revenue and gross income for the quarter, 6.3%. The IT organization ranked top 10% when compared to the IT industry.
• The contribution of IT helped grew the business by 14.9% and drive 26.7% top line revenue, while keeping its operating expenses flat, The IT organization ranked top 10% when compared to the IT industry.
• The report shows evidence of the value strategic technology investment can add to the business performance, even in downturn economy.
• What is important to point out is the business continues to squeeze out and shrink the wrong operating expense—IT is only 6.3% of the firm’s revenue.

The business only wants to know the impact of the IT performance on revenue, cost and margin. It’s the job of the IT leader to act as a gateway and ensure communications are translated properly in both directions.

Please note the opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not reflect those of his employer.

Industry Perspectives is a content channel at Data Center Knowledge highlighting thought leadership in the data center arena. See our guidelines and submission process for information on participating. View previously published Industry Perspectives in our Knowledge Library.

¹ This is an example report for illustration purposes only

With the exploding popularity of Instagram, the social photo app that now counts more than 100 million monthly active users, it could be easy to forget that you ever shared your iPhone photos any other way. But remember Hipstamatic? The iPhone-exclusive app was one of the early ones that captured the attention of mobile photographers with square frames and filters, but ultimately, it missed the boat on social. And for many people, the rest is history.

Hipstamatic CEO Lucas Buick.

But it seems Hipstamatic isn’t dead quite yet. While the company laid off its engineering team last summer and has tried a few others social apps in the past that didn’t catch on, it plans to announce the debut of Oggl on Wednesday, a standalone app to serve as a social network for your Hipstamatic photos. It will also introduce the ability for users to subscribe to Hipstamatic for exclusive filters.

Even more broadly, it seems Hipstamatic is trying to position itself as the photography app for the true artist, not necessarily for anyone with an iPhone. At the company’s press event in San Francisco on Tuesday, CEO Lucas Buick quoted famous photographer Ansel Adams, showed the work of photojournalist Damon Winter, and referred to features with words like “filters,” “lenses,” and “new gear,” — the types of phrases you hear from serious photographers.

In other words, this is not the app for your selfies.

“We’re trying to build this little empire for photo nerds,” Buick told me. “We’re not trying to build something to be a new communication tool. It’s really an art tool.”

The traditional Hipstamatic app will stay the same for those who want to keep using it, but Oggl will provide the same photo-taking capabilities while also allowing users to share those photos into a feed — very much like Instagram. And most importantly, users can still share photos to other apps including Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and Foursquare. The app adds a feature I’ve always wished Instagram would adopt, which is basically a photo retweet, or the ability to re-post someone else’s photo that you like. For now, you still have to take your photo in the Hipstamatic app, preventing people from uploading photos they took with a “real” camera and slapping on a filter.

The app will launch in Apple’s App Store this week, and will at first become available on an invite-only basis as it rolls out slowly to users. The app is free to download, with the option to subscribe for 99 cents per month, or $10 per year, for access to special filters and other features.

There’s no question that the addition of a Hipstamatic feed where I can check out my friend’s photos would make me far more likely to use the app. Previously, Hipstamatic wasn’t a destination — it was a camera tool. But that could change; the Hipstamatic filters and photo processing somehow feel more high-quality and expansive than the options on Instagram. Plus, the sharing features that allow me to take photos in Hipstamatic and send them elsewhere is great, especially as social apps are increasingly building silos around content.

There are aspects of Oggl that feel cluttered and confusing. The requirement that you take your photos in Hipstamatic rather than upload them from the camera roll is a real deal-killer. When I’m out on a hike or walking down a busy city street, I want to be able to quickly snap a photo to filter and share on Instagram later. If I have to open an app, there are a lot of photos I’d never take. And the navigation on Oggl between the camera, the multiple filters and lenses, the main feed, and the sharing options isn’t terribly clear.

But using Oggl, I’m reminded of why I initially fell in love with Instagram. As CEO Kevin Systrom has highlighted before, it’s all about the simplicity. Scroll, heart, snap, filter, share. That’s it.

The app’s confusing nature, and Buick’s discussion of Hipstamatic as a “lifestyle brand” in addition to being an app could reflect some of the turmoil and changes the company has faced since Instagram’s rise, which Fast Company examined in a three-part profile of the company’s struggles. Buick said that after Facebook bought Instagram, “everyone thinks they need to buy Hipstamtic,” but that he’s committed to remaining independent of both an external owner or venture funding.

“For us, the biggest challenge is to find ourselves and not forget what we’re doing,” he told me.

So it’s possible that Oggl is too little too late when it comes to social photo apps. But it’s also worth considering that if Instagram starts integrating even further with Facebook over the next few years, and if more sponsored content or advertising starts showing up in Instagram feeds (which isn’t a remote possibility), users could tire of Instagram and start looking for another solution.

And if Hipstamatic sticks around, it could be a good choice.

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