Ian Barker

Independent analysis company Ovum has released a new report titled Challenges and Best Practices for Deploying Tablets in the Enterprise which finds that tablets are ever more prevalent in businesses.

It notes that as the market for tablets grows, usage of these devices is changing the way people work and is having a noticeable impact on the enterprise. Whether through units supplied by the company or BYOD, fast increasing numbers of tablets are being used to access corporate data and applications.

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You know how frustrating it can be when you hear a track on the radio or TV and miss the announcement that tells you what it's called? With the public beta launch of its new Playlister tool the BBC aims to offer a solution to that problem.

Using Playlister you can tag tracks from across the BBC's web services which will be saved to a personal playlist. Once you've created a list you can export it as a PDF or print it out, but more usefully you have the option to export the list to Spotify, Deezer or YouTube so that you can stream the tracks. Other services are expected to be added in future.

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Leading provider of enterprise mobile services iPass has launched its new iPass Hotspot Finder. The browser-based tool has a completely redesigned user interface and includes several features that help business travelers make informed decisions about hotspot connectivity.

Hotspot Finder doesn't need an iPass account, provides access to over 1.4 million hotspots in the iPass network and can be used from any browser for free.

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HP has released the results of a global study conducted with the Ponemon Institute indicating that the cost, frequency and time taken to resolve cyber attacks has risen for the fourth consecutive year.

The 2013 Cost of Cyber Crime Study found that the average annualized cost of cyber crime incurred by a benchmark sample of US organizations was $11.56 million, representing a 78 percent increase since the initial study was conducted four years ago and 26 percent up on the figure reported in 2012. The results also show that the time it takes to resolve a cyber attack has increased by nearly 130 percent during this same period, with the average cost incurred to resolve a single attack totaling more than $1 million.

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You might have noticed that we're fans of the Raspberry Pi here at BetaNews. The company behind the Pi announced today that it had reached the milestone of 1.75 million units produced, with a million of those being built in the UK.

The first Raspberry Pi models were built in China but since September 2012 production of the tiny educational computer has been moving back to the UK. Using a plant owned by Sony in Pencoed, South Wales, the Pi's manufacturing partners RS Components and Premier Farnell have moved all production back onshore. For the past few months all Pis on sale have been made in the UK.

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Microsoft has announced a number of new products to help companies embrace cloud computing. Windows Server 2012 R2 and System Center 2012 R2 will be released on October 18. These will use Hyper-V for high-scale virtualization, offer high-performance storage at dramatically lower costs, have built-in, software-defined networking and hybrid business continuity. The new Windows Azure Pack runs on top of Windows Server and System Center, enabling enterprises and service providers to deliver self-service infrastructure and platforms from their data centers.

Visual Studio 2013 and .NET 4.5.1 will launch at the same time allowing enterprises to take advantage of the new platforms. Recognizing that customers may want to take a hybrid approach to introducing cloud services, from November 1, Microsoft will offer Enterprise Agreement customers access to discounted Windows Azure prices, regardless of upfront commitment, without overuse penalties and with the flexibility of annual payments.

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A new survey from tech analysts Juniper Research shows that 80 percent of smartphones will remain unprotected throughout 2013 despite growing consumer awareness of mobile security products.

Juniper reckons that the low level of take up is down to a number of factors, including poor consumer awareness about online attacks on mobile devices and a widespread consumer perception that the price of security products is too high.

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VMware's recent release of a new version of its flagship server virtualization product vSphere 5.5 means that many businesses will be planning to upgrade to the new software. However, as with all major upgrades there's a degree of risk involved, especially if the software is part of your enterprise's core infrastructure.

Operations management specialist CloudPhysics rides to the rescue of hard-pressed system admins with a number of tools to streamline the upgrade. The software as a service offering performs a number of checks to help ensure that the vSphere upgrade goes smoothly.

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As the Internet gets bigger and more crowded it can be increasingly difficult to find a catchy domain name. Startup company Panabee aims to provide a simple tool for individuals and businesses to find great domain names and it has just reached the milestone of 10 million monthly searches -- up 50 percent from 2012.

Given the scarcity of available names, Panabee offers a new interface for brainstorming alternatives besides dot-coms. As consumers become more Internet savvy, it allows businesses to embrace different domain endings like .co.uk, .biz, .net and more.

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Research group IDC has announced the results of a survey of 1,200 business executives which reveals that 61 percent of technology projects are now funded by the business rather than the IT department. It also shows that IT spending driven by functional business areas will continue to outpace IT spending by the IT organization in the future.

"Technology has long been central to improving business processes, enabling greater speed, efficiency, and reliability," says Meredith Whalen, IDC's Senior Vice President. "As businesses embrace the 3rd Platform, built on cloud services, big data analytics, mobile computing, and social networking technologies, they are taking the critical first steps toward business process transformation and, in some cases, business model transformation. With such high stakes, the business is increasingly taking a front seat in technology initiatives."

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Canadian company Dundas Data Visualization has released a new version of its data dashboard software. Designed to enable rapid deployment of custom, interactive displays, Dundas Dashboard helps businesses to analyze and visualize data from across the enterprise in order to maximize the return on their data investment.

Dundas Dashboard 5.0 adds several improvements including advanced usage tracking so that you can measure the effectiveness of your investment, added support for big data tools like Amazon Redshift, Apache Hive and Microsoft PDW, along with a new HTML5 mobile interface.

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According to a new report by the UK media regulator Ofcom, tablets are becoming the must have device for children, displacing the smartphone for younger age groups.

Around a quarter of children aged 12-15 (26 percent) and 18 percent aged 8-11 now have their own tablet computer, while household ownership of a tablet has more than doubled since 2012 to 51 percent up from 20 percent. Use of a tablet computer at home has tripled among 5-15s since 2012, 42 percent up from 14 percent, whilst a quarter of 3-4s now use a tablet computer at home.

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Fresh from investor approval of a buyout by its founder, Dell has announced a new family of tablets and an updated range of XPS laptops. The Venue tablet range comprises four ultra thin models designed to deliver class-leading performance and quality with compact designs to help people stay in touch whilst on the move.

The Dell Venue tablets are available in Windows and Android versions. The lightweight Dell Venue 8 Pro runs Windows 8.1, has a bright HD IPS display, advanced connectivity options and provides long battery life. Office 2013 Home & Student is included with the device and there's the option of Dell Active Stylus.

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Market intelligence specialist IDC has released a game and entertainment console forecast which concludes that the number of consoles shipped this year will be higher than in 2012. The total for 2013 is predicted to be around 33 million bundles, this ends a four year slide which began in 2009.

The forecast also suggests that Sony PlayStation 4 bundle sales will edge out Microsoft Xbox One sales during this year's holiday season. This is due to a variety of factors, most notably the PS4's lower price point.

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Network connectivity and management specialist Emulex has launched a new NetFlow generator appliance designed to cope with the latest high-speed LANs.

For those unfamiliar with the nuts and bolts of networking, NetFlow is the metadata that describes network traffic. It's used to diagnose problems and find security issues. In the past NetFlow has been generated by the switch, but 10GB Ethernet means some switches can't keep up leading to NetFlow that's intermittent or incomplete.

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