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As part of its annual Financial Analyst Meeting today, Microsoft is touting its cloud momentum and announcing several new high-profile customers who've selected the company's cloud computing services: Dow Chemical, Hyatt Hotels & Resorts and the University of Georgia. Dow Chemical and Hyatt Hotels & Resorts have adopted Microsoft's Business Productivity Online Suite and the University of Georgia has selected Microsoft's Live@edu service.

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The 85,000 students, faculty and staff at University of Georgia join the over 11 million students and educators worldwide who have adopted Live@edu, a strong indication that despite the common concerns about privacy and security in the cloud, that many schools and universities are making the transition.

Shawn Ellis, University of Georgia's Director of Client Services and System Administration, says the university has been assessing upgrades to its calendar and messaging system for some time. Prior to the move to Live@edu, the university had a very low email storage quota, a separate calendar system, and no online collaboration software. Live@edu addresses these gaps, providing faculty and staff with a hosted Exchanged solution, 25 GB of online storage with SkyDrive, and online collaboration and document sharing via Office Web Apps.

While the University of Georgia felt pressured to upgrade its antiquated messaging and calendaring options, it was, like most educational organizations, financially constrained in doing so. The costs of building and maintaining an internal solution are cost prohibitive, says Ellis, who now envisions that IT staff and resources can be better utilized by moving the university to Live@edu.

While Exchange hosting is by no means new, Cameron Evans, Microsoft's National and Chief Technology Officer, agrees that moving email management off-premise is still a relevant and pressing concern for many schools and universities. In addition to the pressure to save money, schools also have to address questions of security and privacy (including CIPA requirements at the K-12 level), the management and support of multiple devices - both the school's and student and faculty's, and the increasing expectation and demand that work can be undertaken collaboratively.

There's also the expectation among university students that student government play some role in these sorts of decisions.

Microsoft's announcement today follows on the heels of Google's announcement last month that Iowa and Colorado join Oregon in adopting Google Apps for Education, Google's cloud-based service for schools. And while Microsoft and Google continue to vie for contracts with school districts and universities, this growing interest from more and more educational institutions in both company's services demonstrates that the schools are recognizing the major benefits - in terms of cost, infrastructure, and pedagogy - of moving to the cloud.

If you’re a serious doodler, then you need all sorts of surfaces to perfect your art on.  Thankfully there are those committed to making strange clocks that allow for you to scribble all over to your heart’s content.  One of which is this Alessi clock that even comes with its very own magic marker.  Life just wouldn’t be the same without a full set of magic markers.  If you’re feeling particularly wild, you could even go out and purchase some multi-colored markers.

The whole clock is completely blank and even the hands feature a bright white design.  On the clock you can doodle your numbers however you choose.  Be it roman numerals, spelling it out or just using a tally chart.  Either way you’ll have plenty of options on drawing it out.  Unfortunately though, the clock will actually cost you a whole lot of cash.  To pick one up it’ll cost you $155 through Alessi.

Source: Bltd Coolest Gadgets UK – For all your UK centric tech and gadget news.
[ Alessi Blank Wall Clock copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
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Nike drops a couple of new colorways in its ever popular Air Moc. The classic slip-ons are offered in both red plum/smoke and spice/smoke options, both rather simple yet difficult designs to pull off. For those feeling the look, these Fall 2010 releases are now available through select Nike accounts, including atmos.

See more at Nike Air Moc 2010 Fall Colorways

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Post tags: Nike, Nike Air Moc, Sneakers

Microsoft Research demonstrated a new street-level image viewing option that knocks the socks off of Google Maps Street View this week at the SIGGRAPH conference in Los Angeles. Called Street Slide, the technology allows users to zoom out from the fish-eye pannable photos you see on standard street view options and instead see a series of flat panoramic photos stitched together like a timeline.

It's a little hard to describe, but check out the video below. In addition to being less disorienting than zooming around inside Street View, the open space opened up for annotation in Street Slide is very nice.

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Doesn't that just make you feel like a whole new world of possibilities are opened up? There's no word whether or when this feature will be added to Bing, but if it is - I'm going to try to train myself to use Bing Maps instead of Google Maps.

Blogger Keir Clarke hacked together some proof of concept demos similar to this yesterday, using Google Maps, photoshop and jQuery. They're not bad for a few hours of work!

From these sorts of experiments to the work of Open Heat Map and Tableau that we've highlighted here, it's exciting to think about where all this malleability of maps could lead.

Jesus. Maybe literally.

Fox News has a long and illustrious history of saying some fairly outrageous things. A story today on FoxNews.com may be one of the best yet — certainly from a tech perspective.

The post entitled “For Apple Followers, It’s a Matter of Faith, Academics Say” argues that while people may joke about Apple being a religion (JesusPhone, etc), to some, it may actually be a religion. Better, they wonder if Apple shouldn’t pursue that path. Here’s Fox News’ keys as to why Apple is similar to a religion:

• Apple’s creation story epitomizes the humble garage origin of its technology — not unlike the humble manger of Jesus’ birth.
• Apple CEO Steve Jobs is perceived as a messianic leader who was fired but rose again to save the company.
• Apple has traditionally had an evil archenemy, the Devil, as represented first by Microsoft and now by Google.

Yes, Apple’s start in a garage is very similar to Christ’s birth.

They also note that the Pope is scared of such a religion because he once rhetorically asked if a savior was needed in a modern wired world. Clearly, that means Apple.

The story goes on to wonder if Apple — not some crazed Apple fanboys, mind you — might apply for religious status in the future. “Indeed, it would be interesting if Apple were to apply for such a status in the future.“

Naturally, the main impetus behind this farce is that the author can’t understand why people continue to buy iPhones even though they don’t work. Therefore, Apple must be a religion. “It’s not a matter of rationality, it’s a matter of faith,” the author argues.

Meanwhile, back on the planet Earth, the story remains the same. The iPhone 4 does indeed have an antenna issue, but it’s not a major issue in real world use. If it were a major issue, the millions of people who have bought the device over the past month would be returning it en masse. If something doesn’t work, you return it — it’s that simple. That isn’t happening.

So which argument makes more sense? Are the returns not flowing in because it’s really not a big deal — and overall the iPhone 4 is the best smartphone out there? Or is it because Apple is a religion?

[photo: flickr/roblisameehan]

You’ve normally got two choices in site heatmapping (figuring out where eyeballs land on your site),  you can either buy costly specialized equipment ($40K) or pay a consultant to use their own equipment, which costs upwards of $5K. Y Combinator funded GazeHawk has figured out a more pared down and innovative solution; Why not use webcams?

Co-founded by Brian Krausz and Joe Gershenson, newly launched GazeHawk is less expensive than most already existing eyetracking services at 1/10 the price. And heatmapping, something that required custom hardware and bringing people into a lab, now requires simple consumer hardware and proprietary software.

GazeHawk has its own network of test subjects; All you need to do as a website owner is give them a url or a screenshot and you get back a site map of the most active viewed places on your website, instead of having to got through the unwieldly and costly processes described above.

Though similar in concept to UserTesting, GazeHawk is disruptive in the sense that we’ve never seen a low-cost, low-effort eye tracking service before. According to Krausz, GazeHawk’s future plans include a number of extra features, better visualizations, allowing people to use their own test viewers, and eventually expansion in to the UX industry — Creating product based on tester feedback,  i.e. what people want to see.

Weary readers have learned to ignore ads, especially those placed in the bottom right corner. Say Krausz, “People are so good about identifying ads nowadays that if anything looks like one you lose the entire area.” Below is a GazeHawk heatmap of our homepage — most notably people are looking at our story rotator, ING ads and not our events stuff.  So quick look to the bottom right! Look!

Aside from being fascinating, accurate heatmapping is crucial to informing online ad placement, cost per click and cost per impression are just not as accurate when measuring brand conveyance. For those interested in trying it out, GazeHawk is offering a 50% discount for TC readers, just enter TECHCRUNCH10 at checkout.

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Post tags: "wind power", alternative energy, bestbuy, generator, Honeywell, kwh, magnetic, power, renewable, renewable energy, residential, turbine, windtronics

Mobile security firm Lookout announced today at the Black Hat security conference that millions of Android users had downloaded a wallpaper app that sends user information to a unknown site in China, reported VentureBeat. Concerns about app access to private information were raised last month, but this may be the first instance of Android malware in the wild. Android's enterprise-readiness has been controversial in analyst circles.

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The app, Jackeey Wallpaper, transmits a users' SIM card number, subscriber identification, and, if it's been programmed into the phone, voicemail password to www.imnet.us, a web site owned by someone in Shenzhen, China. It had been reported that the app also collected browsing history and text messages, but Lookout has clarified that this is not correct.

The app asks permission to access users phone calls, but does not disclose that the information would be sent to a third-party. Lookout found the app as part of its App Genome Project, an ambitious project to track the behavior of 300,000 applications.

Lookout may also be announcing other Android security risks at the conference.

Another mobile security company, Smobile Systems warned against this very scenario last month in a report titled Threat Analysis in the Android Market.

Analysts have been split over the enterprise-readiness of Android 2.2. Jack Gold, of J. Gold Associates, has argued that the lack of support for enterprises to manage what apps users install on their Android handsets should be one of many deal-breakers for Android adoption in the enterprise. This would seem to validate his claims.

Perhaps in response to the Smobile report, Google released a kill switch function to remotely delete malicious applications. The company hasn't announced whether Jackeey Wallpaper has been scheduled for termination.

Takashi Murakami helps celebrate the 40th anniversary of Japanese radio station Tokyo FM with this special G-SHOCK Frogman design. Having hosted the on-air “Art Dojo FM” show for the past 8 years, Murakami’s influence on the station is apparent through his weekly contributions. The watch itself plays off Murakami’s signature artwork, with the base featuring a translucent red motif, accented with engraved artwork on the backside and a complimenting watch pillow decked out in a familiar flower print. Only 300 of these units were produced, officially launching on September 11th, 2010.

Source: Highsnobiety

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Post tags: Accessories, Casio, G-Shock, Takashi Murakami, Watches

Following a great Spring/Summer season, Filippa K returns for Fall/Winter 2010, offering a look into its new collection via lookbook. Smart and casual, without being over-designed, the line fully engages the Filippa K elegance with a steady stream of wearable designs. Highlights include solid outerwear with blazers and jackets, knits, sweaters, and plenty of trousers. A full look into Fall/Winter 2010 is offered below.

See more at Filippa K 2010 Fall/Winter Lookbook

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Post tags: Fashion, Filippa K

Corin Tucker on "Jesus Etc.": On the One Beat tour, I remember driving, and that's all Carrie [Brownstein] and Janet [Weiss] would listen to [laughs]. My god, that record played over and over and over again. We would just drive to the next show and listen to that record. We all loved it, and we didn't always agree on what to listen to in the van.

Pitchfork: Was there anything else that all three of you would agree on?

Corin: We all liked to listen to Led Zeppelin. We would just go through the whole catalog [laughs]. We all liked that. We all liked Belle & Sebastian. [5-10-15-20]Sleater Kinney's Corin Tucker will be touring with Sara Lund of Unwound and Seth Lorinczi of Golden Bears (aka The Corin Tucker Band) in support of Corin's debut, 1,000 Years, due October 5th on Kill Rock Stars. A picture of the band is below.

They hit the road this October. The trip includes a Tuesday, October 26th show at Bowery Ballroom with Portland's Hungry Ghost. Tickets are on sale. All dates below.

Corin talked to the Portland Mercury about the sound of the new record...How would you describe the sound of the record, particularly in comparison to Sleater-Kinney?

I think some of the songs are in the ballpark. It's definitely my voice and my songwriting style. But like I said, it's different instrumentation on some of the songs and a different collaboration. Seth's producing and arranging things, so that's different, too. It may be more traditional with some of the arrangements. [via Sleater-Kinney.net]That's the cover above. All tour dates, tracklist and some Corin solo videos are below...

Continue reading "Sleater-Kinney's Corin Tucker releasing an LP, touring (dates)" at BrooklynVegan.com

by Andrew Frisicano

DOWNLOAD: Film School - Heart Full of Pentagons (MP3)

West Coast shoegazy indie-rock band fronted by Greg Bertens, Film School, have a new record coming out, Fission, due August 31st on Hi-Speed Soul. The first single off that, "Heart Full Of Pentagons," posted above, opens with a nervous drum-machine beat and quickly grows into a wistfully epic Stars-esque burner.

To accompany the LP, the band will play a full tour this fall, opened primarily by Brooklyn's The Depreciation Guild. Those bands play two NYC shows, one at Glasslands with Home Video on September 30th, and one at Mercury Lounge on Friday, October 1st. Tickets for Mercury Lounge are on AmEx presale now. General sale starts Friday at noon.

The new album's cover and all tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Film School announce tour in support of new LP (MP3, dates) " at BrooklynVegan.com

Here’s bright spot in the news of the day: energy from new solar installations has, for the first time, become cheaper than energy from new nuclear plants, according to a new Duke University study. Thanks to cost-saving technologies and economies of scale, price can no longer be an excuse to invest in nuclear power rather than solar.

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Post tags: "solar energy", cost, Duke University, nuclear energy, nuclear power, renewable energy costs, Solar Power

After Parra inaugurated the collaborative gallery space between Arkitip and Incase, San Francisco’s MASH had also left their mark at Project Space, and now, British documentary photographer (currently based in New York), Janette Beckman, will be hosting a photography exhibition “Janette Beckman, Archive of Attitude” at the same spot. For those who are not familiar with Beckman, she kicked off her career photographing the punk scene in the 70s and 80s, and went on shoot for publications such as Esquire, Rolling Stones, The Times, Newsweek and more. Some of the photographs on exhibit will include the one she took of LL Cool J in 1995. The exhibition will open soon on August 12 and will be running through September 5.

Read the rest of: Janette Beckman x Project Space – “Janette Beckman, Archive of Attitude” Exhibition

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Post tags: Arkitip, Incase, Janette Beckman, Project Space

Gil Scott-Heron @ Central Park SummerStage in June (more by Andrew Frisicano)

Gil Scott-Heron still has another SummerStage show coming up, his second of the season, set for August 5th in Harlem's Marcus Garvey Park. But that's not his only NYC appearance - Gil will also be playing B.B. King's on October 7th. Tickets are on sale.

As for his other tour dates, Gil plays a festival called Blue Balls Festival in Switzerland July 30th, and has a few other European festival shows coming up as well.

Some clips from Gil's self-deprecating pre-set monologue (similar to what he did at SummerStage) from a London show a few weeks back and all tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Gil Scott-Heron adds another NYC show & other dates" at BrooklynVegan.com

Following the successful formula of previous Phaidon “10×10″ titles, this new book in the series presents 100 of the world’s most exceptional emerging film directors, selected by internationally prominent festival directors. Criteria for selection: each curator (nominators) will select ten film directors and one long feature film which the director made, produced and distributed in the last five years. Each selected film must be a long feature film and should be his or her first, second or third film. Arranged alphabetically by film director, the book explores the work of each director through the close analysis of one key film per director featured on 2 spreads, providing the reader with detailed information about each film and its author both in words and pictures, including film stills, on-set photographs, posters, and more. The book can be purchased through Amazon, with further information available there as well.

Source: Contemporary Standard

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Post tags: Books, Films, Print

When we looked at adoption of the latest iPhone operating system, iOS 4, last week, we suggested that one reason 49% of users had yet to update might be "that some of the iPhones running iOS 3 are doing so because iOS 4 would slow their phone down."

After seeing site after site reporting issues with iOS 4 on the iPhone 3G, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple has finally caught on to the issue and "is looking into the matter."

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From the beginning, users were told that a number of features would be missing from iOS 4 on the iPhone 3G - most notably multitasking - but no mention of performance issues were ever made. Soon after 3G owners began updating to iOS4, however, complaints about performance and battery life began peppering the blogosphere and Apple Support Forums. According to Apple, "iOS 4 works with iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, and iPhone 3G", but some users are disagreeing with that, saying that the latest OS not only slows down their phone but makes them essentially unusable.

While there is no news beyond Apple "looking into" these issues, there are a few options for iPhone 3G owners who have already made the upgrade.

First, LifeHacker points to this tip on Gizmodo, which says that disabling the Spotlight search feature, in conjunction with a "double hard reset", can help performance immensely.

There is also a way to downgrade your iPhone 3g to iOS 3.1.3, the final operating system release of iOS 3 before Apple moved on to iOS 4.

And finally, Joel Evans writes for ZDNet that there is a last resort - complain enough until Apple just replaces your iPhone 3G with one running the old OS. According to multiple reports, Apple Stores had a stash of old iPhone 3Gs to offer as replacements and told one customer that "Apple was working on a 'fix', so stay tuned".

Hopefully, Apple will come up with a more sustainable fix, such as offering an updated version of iOS 4 for the 3G or, if nothing else, a way for users to simply downgrade to iOS 3.1.3.