Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Wednesday, April 04, 2012

NTT forces you to pay attention during a video conference (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/03/ntt-video-conferencing-technology/

NTT figures out how to make you pay attention during a video conference

Video conferencing solved the "you talkin' to me?" problem ages ago, when business execs first started using sophisticated telepresence suites to share moisturizing tips. The thing is, catching a person's eye somehow has greater instinctive impact when you actually see them turn around to face you. That's exactly the sensation that NTT engineers have tried to replicate with the MM-Space conferencing system. It's demoed after the break by a pleasant-looking (Oil of Olay?) Japanese woman -- and even though you can't hear a word she says, the rotating, nodding translucent screen definitely lends her some extra gravitas.

Continue reading NTT forces you to pay attention during a video conference (video)

NTT forces you to pay attention during a video conference (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Apr 2012 19:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

Akihabara | source

Diginfo (YouTube) | Email this | Comments

Upstart SugarCRM Raises Another $33 Million To Take On Salesforce And Microsoft (CRM, MSFT, ORCL)

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/sugarcrm-upstart-raises-another-33-million-to-take-on-salesforce-and-microsoft-2012-4

sugar spoons

SugarCRM is up against a couple of noisy competitors -- Salesforce and Microsoft love to talk about their products and spend oodles on marketing every year.

But the seven-year-old company has carved out a nice niche for itself: it's been cash flow positive since 2010, and has more than one million end users, making it the third-largest CRM vendor. Billings were up 67% last year, and almost doubled in the fourth quarter.

Now, it's about to get bigger with a $33 million funding round led by NEA.

So how do they do it?

Focus. All they do is CRM. They're happy to let partners fill in all the other pieces that a business needs.

As CEO Larry Augustin told us, "We're not going to do like Salesforce has done. We're not pushing Heroku, Force.com, Rypple, Site.com or any of those things."

As far as Microsoft goes, "They have a solution that's an add-on to SharePoint, Exchange, and Office. If your goal is to live in Microsoft's world, that's naturally where you're going to go. Today, a lot of companies have a more heterogeneous environment. A lot of people have Google Docs, or mobile solutions that are not just Windows solutions. That's where we shine."

Another big difference: while Salesforce and Microsoft want customers to run in their clouds, SugarCRM wants customers choose their own cloud computing provider. The app can run on Amazon Web Services, IBM SmartCloud, Rackspace, a company's private data center or -- ironically -- even Microsoft's Windows Azure platform.

"We do host, we have a multitenant data center. But our emphasis is moving product out to other cloud services. If I never bought another server I'd be very happy."

Augustin also told us that the CRM market is far from full. Most of the company's customers so far have been smaller businesses, and about 60% of them are moving from makeshift solutions for tracking customer relationships, like storing data in Excel or Google Docs.

But SugarCRM is moving upmarket, and sought this funding round to make sure it had the cash to cover the longer sales cycles that enterprises require. It's also planning on making some "small tuck-in acquisitions" that help its core product.

The round was led by NEA, and NEA partner Brooke Seawell will join the board. The round also included new investments from Silicon Valley Bank and Gold Hill Capital.

Please follow SAI: Enterprise on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

Tuesday, April 03, 2012

Dropcam HD WiFi monitoring camera now shipping for $149

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/03/dropcam-hd-wifi-security-camera-now-shipping-pricing-details/

We've had the opportunity to spend time with an early version of the Dropcam HD WiFi monitoring camera prior to its CES unveiling, and now the company is finally ready to get the product out to the masses. Starting today, the bantam security camera is shipping from the outfit's site for $149, with that tally netting you a USB-powered camera with automatic night vision, HD-quality video, two-way audio support, optional DVR-style recording ($9.95+ per month) and always-on access. As stated in our review, users can access a live stream of what it's watching (or they're watching, if using multiple cams) from any web browser, iPhone or Android-based device, and privacy advocates should know that all streams are "encrypted with bank-level security, and streamed through the cloud, not your computer, so it's safe in case of any computer trouble or theft." Head on past the break for the full spiel, or hit the source link to get your order in.

Continue reading Dropcam HD WiFi monitoring camera now shipping for $149

Dropcam HD WiFi monitoring camera now shipping for $149 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Apr 2012 06:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | source

Dropcam, Amazon | Email this | Comments

Intel: Your Next Laptop Will Be a Touchscreen Clamshell [Computers]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5898609/intel-your-next-laptop-will-be-a-touchscreen-clamshell

Intel: Your Next Laptop Will Be a Touchscreen Clamshell Things are certainly changing in personal computing: laptops are getting smaller and slimmer; tablets are becoming more useful productivity tools; and the whole sector can't quite reach a consensus over what the future holds. But then, Intel drops into conversation that it firmly believes in the one technology most people have dismissed: Clamshell touchscreens.

Speaking to PCWorld, Intel product manager Anand Kajshmanan explained that Intel "fundamentally believe in the concept of touch, and touch on a clamshell," adding that the firm is "strongly encouraging our partners" to add touchscreens to their ultrabooks.

Well, well. We've seen a clamshell tablet from Sony, and it was awful. What's to make a touchscreen laptop better? Not a lot. Steve Jobs famously dismissed the idea—after Apple had conducted tests of the concept—over the fact that vertical touch surfaces lead to fatigue. Without some startling innovation—which is of course possible, and I'd love to be proved long—that isn't set to change.

Elsewhere in the interview, Kajshmanan made an interesting comment over Windows versus OS X, too. Windows, he explained, is itself a prime differentiator when it comes to buying a laptop, calling it "the operating system users have come to love." He has a point. I'm saying he's right, but he has a point. [The Verge]

Image by Travis Isaacs under Creative Commons license

Canon EOS 60Da: the DSLR for that astrophotographer in your life

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/03/canon-eos-60da-dslr-astronomy-night-shooting-price-release-date/

What if all the answers to the universe resided in the stars? What if your real home was in space? What if you had a camera engineered specifically to capture the beauty of the night sky? You do. Canon has just outed the proper successor to the EOS 20Da, with the 60Da "catering to astronomers and hobbyists" who'd rather spend their clicks on galaxies than flowers and Earthlings. According to Canon, there's a "modified infrared filter and a low-noise sensor with heightened hydrogen-alpha sensitivity" -- something that presumably means the world to astronomers. In more understandable terms, it's packing an 18-megapixel CMOS sensor (APS-C), a 3-inch Clear View LCD (you know, the flip-out kind), a nine-point autofocus system and TV-out support. The Silent Shooting feature that we already praised on the EOS 5D Mark III is here as well, as is a native ISO ceiling of 6,400 and an expandable range that reaches 12,800. Canon also throws in its RA-E3 remote controller adapter -- a vital accessory for those looking to shoot timed exposures greater than 30 seconds -- as well as an AC adapter kit for those all-night sessions. It'll hit select dealers later this month for $1,499, and no, this is not a joke.

Gallery: Canon EOS 60Da DSLR press photos