Don’t get mad at me for not finding seven stories for you to read this weekend. I have been busy with some other stuff and as a result I have not been able to spend as much time reading as I normally do. Regardless, here is an abbreviated recommendation list. Hope you enjoy them.

• Silence versus communication: A productivity experiment from one of my favorite new companies, 6Wunderkinder, is a must read for those who want to get more from their day.
• Publishers are flubbing the iPad. No doubt, for all they are doing is repurposing the old magazines onto the iPad instead of thinking about magical experiences that leverage the iPad and its sensors.
• Allan Sloan, Fortune‘s editor at large, thinks that the Facebook IPO is all marketing, hypocrisy and arrogance.
• Information cartels of today are like the computer hardware giants of the old, buying politics and mortgaging our future, writes Reginald Braithwaite, a veteran programmer. I love this piece.
• The secret life of your personal data, animated. Enough said.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
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• Personal tools lead to practical business
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Pieces for promotion are favorable to all industrialists. It can easily optimize profitability in business if used in a favorable way to you since it has been in marketing for so long. It could certainly lure in customers pro products are normally out for free. It typically comes with a set from a superior manufacturer as a complimentary piece. Customized flash drives are familiar ad items from businesses that trade PC, Personal Computer hardware as well as software.

There are customized flash drives providers who can give you wholesale price if you buy in bulk if you opt for these in endorsing your manufacturer. They include a variety of style, originality and memory capability to choose from. The customized flash drives are going to be framed in accordance to your preference. Your customized flash drives will definitely have the logo of your label and your brand identity itself.

Since the flash drives that they are bringing home bacon are customized, it is not even exclusive to computer companies only but moreover to all that needs customized flash drives. They are flexible considering the styles they are getting. Suppliers can easily present you up to one-year warranty as well as they are going to assure you the durability as well as convenience of their systems. They can certainly present you high quality USB devices as they will certainly grant high quality service.

This could certainly be a decent solution as promotional items for companies that easily sell office supplies as well as furnishings. It can certainly in addition be provided away as souvenirs in a national meeting, a school reunion, an organizational get together or a standard preprogrammed device for college students. This stuff is so useful. Instead of giving away coffee mugs to your employees why not customized flash drives. They are very useful in storing as well as transferring data especially in the office. The customized flash drives bearing your company name given as office supply for every employee in your company will definitely deliver pride to them as members.

The service providers of customized flash drives can certainly be discovered anywhere in the web. They tender swift as well as competent service. Customer satisfaction is their main mission in serving their jobs. The styles to pick from are extraordinary. They inheritted it all from plastic, metal, wood, recycled, and even silicone. Memory space of the customized flash drives is up to32GB. They will certainly show you their compensation and will work accordingly to your taste.

The customized flash drives that these business entities whip out are lengthy lasting even in bulk. They allow a year warranty which is common to tools like this then you can send it back if troubles occur. You will most likely be properly backed up by the appointed professionals in their company so you would definitely evoke the extremely good, customized flash drives for you.

Looking for the best suppliers of flash drives for your business? This website is for you: Customized Flash Drives.

Mobile virtualization boasts an array of use cases — from cost savings for mobile device manufacturers to security for “Obamaberries” and other superphones. It also can give mobile devices dual personas. A hot topic today is the use case that’s also of greatest interest to smartphone and tablet users — enterprise mobility – using virtualization in the enterprise to support secure corporate connectivity and productivity on-the-go.

Most discussions of enterprise mobility focus exclusively on the benefits of giving mobile workers access to corporate data, networks and applications. In theory, that means making workers more productive while saving on capital equipment costs. In practice, enterprise mobility often forces a choice between corporate security, or worker productivity and personal freedom.

Mobile workers around the world increasingly prefer to use their own smartphones, tablets, and other wireless devices for both professional and personal communications and computing. This consumerization of enterprise IT, a natural consequence of smartphone and mobile applications growth, puts new pressures on companies to accommodate and secure employee-owned mobile devices.

Historically, IT security concerns have resulted in employee mobile devices running the RIM (BlackBerry) operating system or Microsoft Windows variants as the primary “supported” mobile devices in corporate environments. However, the overwhelming popularity of new devices including the iPhone, iPad and a wide range of Android smartphones has resulted in employees increasingly sneaking their own personal devices into the workplace.

A number of technical and process-based approaches are commercially available to address requirements for enterprise mobility security. Currently, enterprise IT looks to Mobile Device Management (MDM) and endpoint security technologies such as encryption and anti-virus software, to bolster enterprise mobility. These technologies are necessary and powerful, but leave critical requirements unmet. In particular, MDM and endpoint security rely on the integrity of the underlying smartphone operating system (OS) and software stack, which are still vulnerable to exploits. Even the security software that protects the device may be susceptible, threatening both the integrity of the mobile device and any information that passes through it.

Many of these company-imposed restrictions also make mobile devices too cumbersome for personal use, limiting productivity and increasing corporate vulnerability as users ditch the proper procedures. Implementing enterprise security policy usually entails restrictions on freedom to fully use the capabilities of the device (e.g., blacklisting online destinations, curtailing application download and use). The unfortunate result is that employees continue to carry a second, personal device, leaving many benefits of enterprise mobility unrealized.

Enter mobile virtualization

In data centers, virtualization separates the hardware from the software running on it, allowing for consolidation of separate, disparate physical systems into multiple virtual machines on one server. Mobile virtualization effects a similar consolidation by merging multiple dedicated embedded processors onto a single CPU.

Mobile virtualization provides a secure, isolated and robust run-time environment for programs (including operating systems), which is indistinguishable from actual “bare metal” hardware. This environment is called a virtual machine (VM). The virtual machines can become a container for guest software, imitating computer hardware and isolating guests from one another. Providing the virtual machine environment and managing VM resources is a software layer called a hypervisor.

Enterprise desktop virtualization programs are typically application-level (Type II) hypervisors: They let users run additional OSes and applications, such as Windows on MacOS, or Linux on Windows. But, to be effective and truly secure, mobile virtualization should employ Type I hypervisors, “bare metal” technology comparable to blade and server virtualization in the enterprise data center.

Not all Type I hypervisors are created equal. Some mobile virtualization platforms offer superior performance and finer granularity than others. A smaller trusted compute base and stricter hardware-enforced separation among virtual machines assures a more secure mobile virtualization solution. The fine-grained “capabilities” available with some hypervisors make it easier for integrators and architects to configure and control communication among virtual machines, without compromising performance or security.

Such fine-grained control allows mobile system designers to expose select characteristics of a shared devices (e.g., a sound chip or wireless interface) giving one trusted guest OS full read/write permissions to it, but more restricted access to a second untrusted guest, either directly or through a virtual device driver. Access controls like these are fast and hardware-enforced using processor-based memory management, and impose little or no power consumption or response-time overhead.

Mobile virtualization software itself (a microvisor), also imposes minimal cost in the software bill of materials of a smartphone or other mobile device, and, in fact, can substantially reduce those costs in three ways. First, consolidating multiple CPUs onto a single chipset saves on silicon. Second, systems with fewer hardware components cost less to test and are inherently more reliable, improving manufacturing yields and margins. Third, fewer components draw less power, allowing use of smaller, cheaper batteries or letting users squeeze more life and talk time.

These savings are more than just “cost shavings.” – Tear-downs from OK Labs and industry analysts show that mobile hardware consolidation can yield savings of upwards of on total device expenses of 0-0. Such steep cost reduction improves margins, makes smart devices more accessible, and even opens new segments for affordable “mass market” smartphones.

Dump the dual-phone lifestyle

Effective enterprise mobility rests on three pillars: security, privacy, and freedom to fully use the capabilities of the device. Of the various options for implementing enterprise mobility securely while preserving end-user privacy and freedom, only mobile virtualization consistently balances all three pillars. Other solutions attempt to implement the form of dual persona functionality, but miss the substance of underlying security, and of preserving privacy and freedom.

Mobile virtualization lets enterprise IT secure access to enterprise assets and services, while ensuring user privacy and preserving intact smartphone user experience. All on a single off-the-shelf smartphone or tablet! And, mobile virtualization lets users adopt the mobile device of their choice, while allowing corporate IT departments to manage sensitive data on those devices with enterprise-level security and compliance.

Steve Subar is founder and CEO of Open Kernel Labs.

Related content from GigaOM Pro (subscription req’d):

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• Infrastructure Q1: IaaS Comes Down to Earth; Big Data Takes Flight
• VMware’s Cloudy Ambitions: Can It Repeat Hypervisor Success?

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In the IT industry, technology and the usage evolves faster than in perhaps any other industry. As a rule of thumb, systems can grow 10 times under their current architecture or paradigm, then they must be re-architected. This 10X effect causes old technologies to become obsolete and new ones to emerge. It also underlies the massive shift to cloud computing.

The last major computing infrastructure paradigm shift happened in the ‘80s when “client/server” was introduced as the new way to design business applications. Those applications typically ran on x86 computers – aka PCs.

Then, in the ‘90s, the “client” part of this overall design was disrupted and changed with the advent of the Internet. Instead of having applications running on a desktop PC accessing application servers on other PCs, we started accessing applications through web browsers which did little more than rendering on your own desktop or laptop computer. Now, 10-15 years later, we’re seeing the “server” side of client/server disrupted and replaced by cloud computing.

A New Architecture for More Devices

The underlying driver of these changes is the 10X effect — writ large. The early Internet had around 10 million users. Today we have on the order of one billion users (100X) on the Internet, and up to three billion if you count Internet-enabled mobile phones too. Whereas in the early days of the Internet, there were perhaps one million websites, today we have about 100 million active websites (100X). The total number of Internet connected devices is today around five billion (a 100X growth from about a decade ago), and the boldest predictions say that in the next few years this number will grow to a trillion! That’s 200X the current number.

These massive growth numbers, stepping up two or three orders of magnitude in about a decade, are forcing us to look for a new way to design our IT systems. The old architecture is completely unable to handle the new compute load, so we must re-architect the systems on all levels. Cloud computing is the new architecture.

Cloud computing is a term that reaches from the lowest piece of computer hardware all the way up to the highest level of web and mobile services. Google’s search is a cloud service. Salesforce.com is a cloud company. Apple’s iTunes is music and entertainment in the cloud. Amazon Web Services is cloud computing, as is Microsoft (a msft) Azure. Cloudera, RightScale and Eucalyptus are innovators of infrastructure software for the cloud. The modern servers produced by Dell and HP are made for cloud computing, as are the new storage solutions from giants like EMC and NetApp and from newer players such as Fusion-io.

Computers and the Three Musketeers

Whereas in current IT systems, computers and other resources are hardwired to serve just one specific set of users or set of applications, cloud computing lets any computer serve any need of any user. Computers are finally learning from the Three Musketeers: one for all and all for one.

Interestingly, the converse can be true as well in the cloud. When usage shoots through the roof (think of a mobile game that suddenly becomes popular), all cloud computers can be put to the use of one single application. Compute resources such as servers, storage devices and network equipment, can be called to duty and sent back on leave in an instance. This is called “elasticity.”

The “one for all and all for one” principle is possible because computer and software engineers have made sure that compute resources are fungible, i.e. mutually replaceable. You’d think engineers would have made this possible decades ago, but this has been a very hard nut to crack. It requires new thinking so new products (both software and hardware) are ready to operate across multiple computers from the start. This may sound like a natural thing to do, but so far in our history of computing, most software and hardware products were designed to function on their own with little interaction with other similar products.

Fungible compute resources that produce enormous elasticity are the only way to serve the growing Internet. When we reach the point of having one trillion connected devices, those connected devices all need service from the underlying computer network, but they do so at unpredictable times and with unpredictable workloads. It’s totally impossible to have servers devoted to certain uses — sitting there idly waiting for the user or the application to need them. Such a model would require close to a trillion servers. But with cloud computing, resources can be shared across the cloud, and a much smaller number of servers can successfully serve the fluctuating needs of the users and the connected devices. With fewer servers, we save time, money and energy.

As compute loads grow 10 times, 100 times and even 1,000 times, we need new architectures for our IT systems. In cloud computing, it is all about creating elasticity by making the compute resources fungible. When any computer can step in at any time to do any computation needed, scaling will no longer be an issue.

Marten will sharing his thoughts on “The Future of the Cloud” at our Structure 2011 event in June.

Marten Mickos is CEO of Eucalyptus Systems.

Related content from GigaOM Pro (subscription req’d):

• Infrastructure Q1: IaaS Comes Down to Earth; Big Data Takes Flight
• VMware’s Cloudy Ambitions: Can It Repeat Hypervisor Success?
• The Structure 50: The Top 50 Cloud Innovators

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Computer repair is something which many individuals have a tendency to put off for one main reason or another, but regardless of whether you choose to accept it or not, computer maintenance and laptop repair is critical for a number of different reasons. See the following list for a few issues which computer disrepair can actually cause:

Decreased Performance: They say that computers or laptops slow down with age, but to be perfectly honest, personal computers do not slow down. They may become outdated, but if your computer, pc, or laptop is slowing down, a decent computer repair might be in order.

Information Leak: This is something which many individuals do not have a tendency to think about. The problem here is that spy ware can capture keystrokes, ultimately leaking your personal data to the outside world. Is this something that you genuinely want? Probably not, so keep sharp and make sure this doesn’t occur to you!

OS Damage: Don’t fool oneself into believing that your os cannot be damaged by viruses. Quite a few individuals possess the mentality that it ‘can’t happen to them’, but it can and will if you are not careful. The last thing you want is to lose all of your information and you undoubtedly don’t want to reinstallyour os.

These are all software issues of course, and computer repairs can often involve hardware issues. This is particularly true when it comes to laptop repair, but with laptops and notebooks it is even a lot more damaging simply because so few shops are certified to repair your laptop. It is a specialized service, and you undoubtedly want to catc the problem before it is too late.

Computer hardware in a desktop PC can be much easier to take care of, especially considering that all of the parts are essentially plug and play. In other words you are going to find that you can simply replace a video card, modem, or network card with relative ease. Remember however that they’re specialists standing by, ready to present you with this service if you have any doubts.

As we mentioned before, failing to maintain your PC or laptop can possess grave consequences, and although the odds it will become nonfunctional are low, there is a strong chance that it will at least become unusable, or at least unusable by the definition of a sane individual.That being said, now would be a great time to look into the repair of your computer,pc and laptop.computer, and naturally guarantee which you carry on to observe for indicators of decay in the os. It may possibly sound like a upright order, but in the end you could undoubtedly be satisfied which you needed the time to observe.

If you’re planning on creating your own computer, I highly recommend you do so. Building your own computer is great because you get to custom select everything you want and you may even end up paying less. On top of this, your new PC will look a lot more stylish. When you look at it, you’ll be proud of it. With all of the great computer towers for sale, it won’t be hard to choose something that looks just the way you want it to.

I should mention however that if your computer isn’t built just right, it will overheat regularly. People that create their own computers make them super strong. This is because a person can make a great computer with the same amount of money they would have spent on something that doesn’t have much power at all.

Sadly, a lot of new computer creators don’t realize that their new and powerful pcs will need cool computer cases to house them. When you create your computer in a cool computer case, it really helps to keep it a good temperature.

The way cool computer cases work is through a system of good air flow. They do this by creating enough space that you’ll be able to move air in and around the inner components of the computer. This is especially important when you build up the areas around the processor.

Cool computer cases will also have great fans inside of them. Many times they will have multiple fans in different areas to make sure everything stays cool all of the time.

While investing in cool computer cases is a great way to keep your computer running smoothly, you should also note that there are other factors that come into play. One factor is how clean the computer is. It is very important to keep your computer clear of dust and debris. Dirt will only create a layer of heat insulation that will lead to an increase in internal heat.

Another thing you can do is to keep things away from the computer that block air vents. Your fan will not be very useful if it doesn’t have a place to push the hot air out of.

For further details on cool computer cases, take a look at my site at www.computer-towers-for-sale.com.