After much back and forth, Microsoft has made a deal with Yahoo that could potentially help the company to rival Google in internet search and advertising. BusinessWeek reports, “Advertisers and online publishers want a viable alternative to the search titan. But analysts question whether Microsoft can avoid losing ground as it implements the complex Yahoo partnership, which could take two years, and afterward come up with real innovations in the business. “We can’t afford a hiccup on this,” Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said in an interview.” Yet some advertisers have already expressed interest in trying out Microsoft-Yahoo over Google, as some feel that its dominance in the space has led to “a lack of innovation and excessive costs.”

As a long time user of both Yahoo’s search engine advertising technology (which they bought from Overture, formerly named Goto) and of Google’s Adwords engine, I can tell you that Yahoo’s technology
is much much harder to use. Google is the one to beat here. And they know it, which may be why
their much deserved reputation for simple user interfaces is becoming less and less apparent in their
search engine advertising management interface. Adwords is getting complicated.

Therefore competition in this space can only be a good thing for advertisers. Let’s hope Microsoft and
Yahoo can get their act together enough to push Google to improve.

Curt Finch writes for a project management blog.

Portable and affordable, the trendy “netbook” is all the rage among computer makers and the consumers snatching them up in droves — so much, in fact, this young category is estimated to make up more than 20 percent of the entire laptop category by next year.

But are these tiny Wi-Fi-enabled netbooks — designed primarily for Web surfing, e-mail, and word processing — ideal for running your business? What’s lost or gained in the transition?

If you recognize the limitations of these scaled-down PCs, a netbook might be all you and your staff need to remain productive on the go, experts say.

Price and size matter

“A netbook is just a laptop whose pivotal axis is price,” says Michael Gartenberg, vice president at Interpret LLC, a market research firm based in London, New York, and Los Angeles. “Basically you need to ask yourself if the netbook has enough horsepower to manage your business, and if so, you can save some money.” However, if you or your staff need to run memory-intensive programs or require larger screens or a full-size keyboard, you might want to steer clear of this category, he says.

The lack of an optical drive might be an issue for some, Gartenberg adds, but an inexpensive external drive — that can be shared among employees to install software — might be all that’s required. “Beyond that, many computer users today simply don’t need a DVD drive,” he says.

Steve Hilton, vice president for enterprise and small and mid-sized business research at the Boston-based Yankee Group, says along with a relatively inexpensive price tag, netbooks offer two other advantages for mobile workers: “They are fairly easy to replace if lost or damaged — in fact most suppliers can easily ship an exact duplicate very quickly. Plus, an IT department tends to like [netbooks] as they’re easy to manage since they have very few applications resident on the device.”

Cloud computing

Netbooks might carry few applications because many small and mid-sized businesses are moving towards “cloud computing,” which allows online employees to securely access programs and files on a remote server, as opposed to physically carrying sensitive data on the road. This trend is on the rise thanks to ubiquitous Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity. In addition, more devices are available — such as netbooks and smartphones — with limited local memory. Much of the software is Web-based, too, therefore not requiring one particular operating system over another.

“Applications in the cloud are not loaded on a netbook because applications are processing and hard-disk hogs,” explains Hilton. “Netbooks are light on both processing and hard-disk space, which is one of the reasons why they’re priced fairly inexpensively, so in order to get the value from a netbook, applications in the cloud are essential.”

Looked at another way, “a Prius and a Boxster have different purposes,” continues Hilton, comparing netbooks with automobiles. “If you need a car that sips gasoline, drives your family of four to the mall, and keeps your auto insurance premiums low, your choice is obvious.”

Gartenberg, however, cautions those who rely too heavily on remote applications for business. “The problem with the cloud is that it’s not always available,” he says. “There is this notion that everything will be delivered via browser, but it’s more of a coexistence [with locally stored programs]. One solution isn’t killing the other.”

And they’re getting better

Just two years ago, a netbook might be limited by a Linux operating system, a petite 7-inch display, and just 4GB of Flash (SSD) memory. Fast-forward to today, however, and there is far more selection, including a Windows o/s, bigger screens (up to 12-inches), a near full-size QWERTY keyboard, a minimum 160GB hard drive and better processors, such as Intel Atom chips.

As far as security goes, Gartenberg says you must treat netbooks like a laptop. “You want to be cautious about what information is on the netbook,” he says, “ensure everything is password-protected, and despite its small size, try to remember not to leave it at a coffee shop or in a taxicab.”

It’s baaaack! Well, it never quite went away. But for some time now AOL has been treating its own name like the crazy aunt in the attic; better tucked away and not discussed except at family reunions involving alcohol.

It appears AOL’s new CEO, Tim Armstrong, is the nostalgic type.

In his first 100 days in office, he has:

- divided up the “people’s network” group into three divisions: AOL Local and Mapping, AOL Communication and AOL Ventures.

- renamed it’s publishing ventures from MediaGlow to AOL Media.

- also renamed it’s advertising arm from Platform-A to, you guessed it, AOL Advertising.

For some time, AOL has gone through a self-loathing period with its name; fearing associations with the most notorious and lampooned corporate mega-merger from the tech bubble days. I am, of course, referring to the AOL Time Warner merger (in the spirit of full disclosure, I worked for a Time Warner company during that merger). There’s also some wincing every time someone does a free association with the term AOL and comes up with the companion term “dial-up”.

I think Armstrong is taking a forward-thinking approach letting go of the past. The truth is AOL was one of the first Internet brands to become a household word. “You’ve Got Mail” was a movie for crying out loud. People are still watching Meg Ryan cry in her pajamas on late night cable (likely a Time Warner cable system) with a laptop in her bed tapping out AOL instant messages to Tom Hanks.

As we say in Texas, you gotta dance with the one who brung ya. For many of us, AOL was our first prom with the Internet. No hard feelings about all that other stuff. Dial-ups and dizzy mergers? We look back on that and snicker like we do at pictures of our old hairstyles and shoulder pads from the 80’s.

Smartphones are big for small business. In fact, many mobile workers now depend on these all-in-one digital Swiss Army Knives that offer support for third-party applications, messaging, Web browsing, GPS navigation, media playback, and photo and video capture.

Oh, and they make calls, too.

But there are a growing number of different platforms on the market — including BlackBerry, iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile, Palm Pre and others — therefore deciding which one is best for your small or mid-sized business could be an overwhelming endeavor. So we turned to a couple of tech experts to discuss what a mobile worker should look for in a smartphone platform.

The basics

Smartphones are an increasingly popular choice for business use, but regardless which of which operating system you go with, the handset must meet a few key minimum requirements, says Scott Steinberg, publisher of Digital Trends.

“Battery life and wireless coverage are two big ones,” says Steinberg, who is based in Atlanta. “Because of all of its features and integrated wireless radios, smartphones can consume a lot of power, and the last thing you need is to be on the road or at a trade show and there’s only one bar left.”

As for coverage areas, which can greatly affect call quality and data speeds, Steinberg suggests to do your research by visiting the websites for carriers — such as Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T and Sprint — and click on the map that shows coverage areas. “Many people assume the smartphone will work the same everywhere in the U.S., and elsewhere, but this is simply not the case,” he explains. “It’s also not a bad idea to talk to colleagues or friends on that network to hear first-hand about coverage, as the last thing you need is to be on the road and you can’t access your e-mail from client about a cancelled appointment.”

Ted Schadler, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research, a Cambridge, Mass.-based technology research firm, says before deciding which smartphone to invest in, figure out what applications your business requires and if they’re supported by the platform. “The horizontal app is e-mail, of course, but after that you’ll need to list any other apps you’ll want to run,” says Schadler.  A small or mid-sized business “will also work out the cost per device, how many you need for your staff, the cost of the data plan, and any device management software or mobile middleware you might need.”

Consider being device agnostic

Schadler, who has just published a report entitled Technology Populism Fuels Mobile Collaboration: When IT Supports Personal Mobile Phones, Mobile Collaboration Ensues, says the trend is moving towards a “bring your own smartphone” practice. In a survey completed by more than 2,300 IT decision-makers in the U.S. and Europe, one in four are now supporting an employee’s personal mobile device — so long as the applications are platform-agnostic and meets the company’s security protocols. The gotta-have-it iPhone from Apple is the “big disruptor” for this paradigm shift, says Schadler.

Deciding which smartphone platform to go, however, might be dependent on the industry you’re in, adds Schadler. If you’re in regulated industry — such as health care, pharmaceutical, insurance, or financial services — you might have strict privacy requirements, such as protecting customer data, remote wiping of device if the smartphone is lost or stolen, and so on. “There are many, many different kinds of policies in these industries so you have to be careful about which phones you’re supporting to ensure they meet regulatory compliance,” says Schadler.

“If you want managed devices, you really only have one choice, which is BlackBerry,” adds Schadler, “as RIM supports more than 450 policies — but it’ll cost you a license fee per month, per user.” He adds, “Otherwise, Windows Mobile and iPhone are basically free if you’re running Exchange.”

Steinberg agrees with Schadler on the additional requirements for any smartphone consideration. Your priorities should be “security and privacy issues must be addressed, support for enterprise-level e-mail, and whether or not you easily sync your data with a PC,” he says. “And depending on what you need, access to the company’s Twitter or Facebook account while on the road might be important or GPS to find your way to a meeting or wireless or on-demand software purchases at an app store.”

Pros and cons

The following are a few thoughts on each of the major smartphone operating systems:

• BlackBerry

Pros: Reliable, fast and secure “push” e-mail; physical keyboard in most models; good battery life; supports multiple accounts.

Cons: Browser not the greatest; App World doesn’t offer great selection or intuitive interface.

• Windows Mobile

Pros: Supported by the broadest range of devices; Outlook and other Windows programs sync smoothly with a PC.

Cons: Interface and stability issues; fewer apps than most other smartphones.

• iPhone

Pros: Elegant and intuitive touch interface; more than 65,000 apps in App Store (many of which are free); great consumer device.

Cons: No physical keyboard is obstacle for many; battery life trails other smartphones; still no MMS support in U.S.

• Android

Pros: Powerful and versatile open-source operating system; seamless presentation and access of online Google apps; good user-interface.

Cons: Not a lot of supported devices or software; Android Market not as intuitive as Apple App Store.

• Palm webOS

Pros: Open-source operating system anyone can develop for; can support multiple apps open at once; offers both physical keyboard and touchscreen.

Cons: Unproven for business because newest OS; poor selection of software and only one device (Palm Pre).

Increasingly, most people have an expectation of seamless connectivity these days. The boundaries between work and personal life blur as employees sign onto Facebook at work and access company systems from home.

But those blurred lines can have security implications for your small or mid-sized business. Do you allow workers to load workplace applications onto personal iPhones? Do you permit the use of social networking sites at work? Is it okay for an employee to use a work-issued smartphone for personal matters?

The chances are your business hasn’t adequately addressed these personal tech issues, says Mark D. Rasch, co-founder of Secure IT Experts, which advises businesses about security.  “What I’m seeing people do about it is a lot of nothing,’’ Rausch says.

Don’t overreact

Your first reaction might be to firmly establish distinctions between work and personal use. For instance, some companies ban the use of social networking sites at work and on work devices. But that’s not likely to work, say Rasch and Andrew Storms, director of security operations for nCircle, an IT security vendor.

 “Today, everyone is highly connected and many workers see very little difference between work and personal time,’’ says Storms. “Companies need to understand this new paradigm and adjust their approach to security accordingly. Fighting to bring clear separation between work and personal space just eats up scarce IT resources and leaves IT as the bully that won’t allow people to get their work done.”

Your time is better spent crafting a common-sense approach that acknowledges the nature of communications today, along with your security needs. Rasch and Storms offer a checklist of steps you should take:

• Establish or re-evaluate usage policies. Many businesses wrote Internet usage policies a decade or so ago and haven’t revisited them, says Rasch. These businesses make the mistake of not recognizing the unique nature of social networking, with its casual, conversational tone, the sheer volume of communication involved and the lack of privacy, Rasch points out. “It’s not the hardware, it’s the people,’’ Rasch says. “The social network is much more dangerous than the computer network.”
• Evaluate how you expect employees to use – or not use – social networking. After all, there can be a business benefit to your employees’ presence on Facebook or Twitter. Spending time on Facebook at work is part of the job description for Chanelle Cotton, an account executive with a Brooklyn, N.Y., strategic marketing firm. Cotton uses her personal Facebook account to promote business. She often invites friends to join the fan page for the marketing firm, and the company uses Facebook to promote upcoming events. But while socializing on Facebook is considered business-friendly, Cotton’s employer doesn’t allow her to use her cell phone to text or talk to friends while she’s at work. “Establish policies but be personable about them,’’ says Storms. “Most companies already have enough legalese to cover them in terms of liability. If you take the stance that your employees want to do the right thing, it behooves you to take the time and speak plain language to them.”
• Inventory employees and equipment. Keep track of the level of access granted to each employee. After all, points out Rasch, a line worker operating a drill press in a manufacturing plant has no reason to access Twitter during a work shift. On the other hand, a sales rep drumming up business for your company can make a legitimate case for open access. In the same way, it’s important to track applications or devices you won’t allow and to inventory the level of access you permit on office and remote equipment.
• Understand the security implications of your policy. For instance, says Storms, allowing employees to install proprietary information on their personal devices is a high-risk proposition, while permitting access to social networking sites at work is less risky. However, the nature of the information your employees post could affect business. Salespeople might unwittingly reveal information about calls through Tweeter. Hackers might use personal information gathered through Facebook to pose as an employee and gain access to a system.
• Educate users. It’s not enough simply to establish plain-language guidelines. If you want employee buy-in, explain why certain actions are limited and what the consequences could be. In some cases, businesses limit personal communications because of the lost time involved. You’ll make a stronger case, though, if you clearly outline potential security implications. “Most employees don’t intend to introduce security risks. They just don’t think about security very often,’’ says Storms.
• Involve IT. It makes good sense to vet policies and practices through the people that keep your systems going. Involving IT in the conversation often helps provide best-case solutions. How can your employee make it to his kid’s soccer game yet finish work at home on sensitive material? Having IT personnel engage employees in conversation breaks down barriers and fosters understanding on both sides.
• Give yourself wiggle room. Create that clear usage policy, explain it, and publicize it. But give yourself leeway, say Rasch and Storms. “You want to write policies in a way that they have flexibility and allow you to evaluate individual circumstances,’’ Rasch says.

Finally, understand that evaluating and updating your usage policy is going to be an ongoing process. “Every significant change in technology creates a whole new set of legal issues,’’ Rasch advises.

The recession has pummeled small businesses’ IT budgets, but that’s no excuse to slack off on electronic privacy and data protection safeguards.

In fact, hard times make keeping an electronic eye on privacy and IT security critical as economic factors are contributing to more frequent data breaches from outsiders and information theft from just laid-off employees and other company insiders, according to attorney Charles Kennedy, a privacy and data protection expert.

In 2008, reports of data breaches at U.S. companies jumped 47 percent to 656, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center, a San Diego nonprofit.

Reports of laid-off employees taking company information with them are also on the rise says Kennedy, with the Washington D.C. office of Morrison Foerster. Over half of 945 laid-off workers responding to a recent poll by Ponemon Institute, a Traverse City, Mich., privacy researcher, admitted taking company data when they quit because they felt entitled to it, thought it would help in their new job or didn’t realize it was stealing.

With breaches on the rise, small businesses simply can’t use the bad economy to rationalize trimming their electronic data protection program budgets, Kennedy says.

Another reason companies can’t let down their guard: state and federal regulators continue to pass stringent electronic data protection rules. One of the latest is the Federal Trade Commission’s Red Flags Rule, which takes effect Aug. 1 and requires financial institutions, health care providers and loan processors to create identity theft prevention programs. The Obama Administration’s economic stimulus bill included a stepped up health-care records security breach notification requirement that takes effect in February 2010. In addition, states such as Massachusetts and Nevada have passed laws requiring companies to use encryption and put in other controls over consumers’ personal information.

Regulations aside, following stringent privacy and security protocols is good for business. “If you have good privacy practices you can make it a feature of your advertising,” if you don’t exaggerate claims, Kennedy says. “When the other guy has a breach and you don’t, that’s good for you. Security is an edge you can’t afford to ignore.”

Doing the same or more with less

Still, no one expects small businesses to spend half their revenue on the latest firewalls and other data protections. Companies have to maximize whatever manpower and financial resources they’ve got. Kennedy and Alex Puertas, a program development manager at Iron Mountain, the data storage and protection vendor, recommend the following:

• Squeeze every penny from existing privacy protections. If you’ve already purchased encryption, intrusion protection and other security technologies, make sure you’re using everything you’ve paid for. “Some data breaches occur because companies didn’t do things they should, like update passwords and firewalls. They’d already paid for them, they just didn’t use them,” Kennedy says.
• Eliminate redundancies and shift resources. Cut costs by eliminating some of the overlapping functions in the security technologies you use. Likewise, reallocate funds from less critical IT and compliance programs to privacy and security, Kennedy says.
• Create written policies and make sure employees know what they are. Written policies can stop problems from happening in the first place and the more trouble you avoid, the less money you have to spend mopping up after the fact. Policies should cover electronic records management - what data is saved, who saves it, how often, and by what method. Policies should also cover employees’ use of portable electronics, updates on new regulations and what to do to limit employees’ access to sensitive data if there’s a layoff.
• Lean on outside contractors. Small businesses might not have the financial resources to maintain an in-house chief privacy officer or compliance department. If that’s the case, make sure you’re working with lawyers, CPAs, or other consultants who can provide you with reliable guidance and technology on privacy and security matters. “I deal with small, medium and big companies and I don’t know of any that can handle all phases of this alone,” Kennedy says.
• Pick an insider as your privacy policy point person. Even if you use a third party to run privacy programs, choose a company insider as a liaison to ensure policies are being followed. That person should also head up formal audits every year or two so programs can be altered to adhere to new laws or industry regulations.
• Tap into industry groups for cheap assistance. Trade associations are great resources for timely information on privacy regulations. In some cases, you don’t even need to be a member to take advantage of reference material that’s available for free on a group’s Website, Kennedy says.

SIDEBAR: Electronic Privacy and Security Policies Resources

Here are additional resources for creating and electronic privacy and IT security practices:

Fighting Fraud with the Red Flags Rule: A How-To Guide for Business — A 17-page guide from the FTC on its new identity theft prevention requirements that includes step-by-step instructions businesses can use to create their own programs.

The Identity Theft Resource Center — Theft prevention information for businesses and consumers, plus updates and statistics on data breaches at U.S. companies.

HIPAA health-care records data breach notification — Health and Human Services Department document spelling out details of health-care privacy protections included in the economic stimulus bill that take effect in 2010.

Iron Mountain Knowledge Center — Free white papers, webcasts, and other materials on electronic privacy protection and security issues.

Even Microsoft is recommending that XP users just scrap their PC’s and start over with a new one pre-loaded with Windows 7 when it comes out this Fall.

“If you’re running Windows XP, or any other operating system for that matter, we recommend that you experience Windows 7 on a new PC…And while we don’t recommend it, should you choose to upgrade your current PC from Windows XP or another operating system to Windows 7, we recommend that you get help with this process from your local computer service provider.”

- Microsoft’s Windows XP upgrade advisor page

Did you read what I read?

- “We recommend that you experience Windows 7 on a new PC”

(subtext: Because the PC makers are really, really fed up with us and the least we can do is encourage you to throw them some business to make up for the sales drought known as Vista)

- “And while we don’t recommend it”

(Subtext: Referring to upgrading your current PC from XP to Windows 7, we’re not kidding. This is more than just throwing a bone to Dell, HP and everyone else who’s mad at us.You really will be ewed-scrayed if you try to upgrade from XP to Windows 7.)

- “We recommend that you get help with this process from your local computer service provider.”

(Subtext: If you are crazy enough to try, at least get help! Given that a so-called easy upgrade from Microsoft usually requires a degree in software engineering, several evenings of uninterupted hours of quality time on the phone with tech support and lots and lots of Xanax; one can only imagine what is involved in an upgrade they deem too difficult to do on your own.)

Countdown to October 22nd!

One of the big challenges in any work place is paper. When many entrepreneurs leave a big company and start their own shops, they vow to cut out paper. It is always easier said than done. Where’s the IT department to create the form in a start up business? Where’s the quality assurance team to test it?Anyware, a company in the mobile application development space for over 12 years understands this problem and has developed a package called “reformXT” that lets your employees fill out forms on their mobile devices. They currently support Palm (runs on Palm Classic on thePRE), Windows Mobile, Blackberry, and, in about a month, iPhone.

Acting product manager Mark Jones and marketing manager April Sailsbury shared with me an example of a pizza chain who wanted employees to efficiently be able to order supplies from the distributor. An employee with a mobile phone or wireless device could go into the kitchen, freezer, and stockroom and analyze the inventory, clicking on different items he feels need to be ordered. When the order is done, it is submitted and can be retrieved at chain headquarters as a separate order, or as one line in a spreadsheet. The central group could then bulk order their products and have the appropriate ingredients sent to the individual stores.

I gave them a different example. Say a saleswoman is out in the field and wants to rapidly take orders based on inventory already available – how could she do that? Jones told me “If you want real time inventory you can work with the “reformXT Companion” to update form information from your own database.” Our saleswoman could fill the form on her blackberry and submit it while still on the customer site. As she looked through the specific items, she could see updated inventory numbers to let the customer know what is in stock and what might take longer (or offer a substitute product).

Small companies shouldn’t fear creating their own forms – if you can fill out a basic web form, you can create your own form with reformXT. The product runs as “Software as a Service” – on their website. Your employees mobile phones access their servers for the forms, and you get the data via email.

The reformXT software is free to try out and create forms, but costs per transaction of forms can range from a few cents to a dollar per form submitted, depending on your usage package. You buy batches of transactions and can save when you buy in bulk.

Cost out how much time it takes when employees are filling out paper and then retyping it – could you make the switch to mobile, on-the-go entry? Comments are welcome below.

Remember the universal translator device from Star Trek? The real thing might not be far away. Dial Directions, a voice activation and recognition software company, and Sakhr Software, an Arabic speech and language tech company, merged on Tuesday for a new initiative to bring a voice and text translator to smartphones like the iPhone or Blackberry. The new application would allow users to speak either English or Arabic into the phone and have it translated through a cloud-based service. “I would put it close to very close to actually having a perfectly fluent translator with you in your pocket,” says Adeeb Shanaa, CEO of the new joint company.

I’m wondering if there are humans in that cloud, ala Amazon Turk or Jott.

Curt Finch writes for a project management blog as well.