Brussels unveils ‘smart cities’ innovation scheme

The European Commission has announced a new €365 million a year innovation partnership scheme aimed at boosting the development of ‘smart’ technologies in cities, EU officials told the press on Tuesday (10 July).  For 2013, €365 million in EU funds have been earmarked for the development of urban technology.  The European Innovation Partnership (EIP) will see private business and the EU executive pool research from energy, transport and ICT to develop a limited number of approved projects.  Examples of mooted projects included silent electric city buses that use digital technology, satellite technology aimed at improving traffic flow, a smartphone applications for reserving alternative fuel rental vehicles,...

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Posted in: ICT,smart city

Microsoft’s Downfall: Inside the Executive E-mails and Cannibalistic Culture That Felled a Tech Giant

Analyzing one of American corporate history’s greatest mysteries—the lost decade of Microsoft—two-time George Polk Award winner (and V.F.’s newest contributing editor) Kurt Eichenwald traces the “astonishingly foolish management decisions” at the company that “could serve as a business-school case study on the pitfalls of success.” Relying on dozens of interviews and internal corporate records—including e-mails between executives at the company’s highest ranks—Eichenwald offers an unprecedented view of life inside Microsoft during the reign of its current chief executive, Steve Ballmer, in the August issue. Today, a single Apple product—the iPhone—generates more revenue than all of Microsoft’s wares combined. Eichenwald’s conversations...

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Posted in: ICT

Twitter’s Pitch Deck for Big Advertisers

Twitter’s ad business is looking less like an experiment and more like a real business, one that could generate $1 billion a year in the not-too-distant future. If Twitter ads really take off, it will be because CEO Dick Costolo will have figured out how to sell lots of little ads to small marketers, in the same way Google did more than a decade ago. In the meantime, the company seems to be succeeding with the other end of the spectrum: Big marketers interested in experimenting with a brand-new format. Last year, Twitter ad boss Adam Bain made a point of targeting big brands like Pepsi and American Express. And this year he’s seeing some of that work pay off, as some of them are committing to campaigns that will run for much of 2012. Twitter...

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Posted in: ICT

Smart TVs to Get Antivirus Software

Viruses and malware are no longer threats that are limited to computers, with more electronic devices, such as smartphones and tablets, going online. UK-based Ocean Blue Software and Sophos have just developed what could be the world's first antivirus program for smart TVs. This cloud-based solution can be rolled out as a part of Ocean Blue's security suite or directly integrated into the panel's own software system. This is a timely introduction considering the growing popularity of smart TVs, which support downloadable apps and Web-surfing functions. Such antivirus software may also bolster users' confidence for e-commerce and other applications that require input of personal information through these Internet-ready panels. Source:...

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Posted in: ICT,smart city

LinkedIn confirms some users' passwords hacked

LinkedIn has confirmed that some of its users' passwords have been compromised and said it is continung to investigate claims that a member of a Russian online forum hacked the popular networking site and uploaded close to 6.5 million passwords to the internet. In a blog post issued late Wednesday afternoon, LinkedIn said the passwords of users whose data had been compromised would no longer work, and they would be sent emails advising them how to change them. It would not say how many passwords had been leaked. The passwords were allegedly uploaded encrypted and without usernames since the hacker's aim seems to have been to demonstrate that the LinkedIn site is not secure rather than to use the personal information of its users. But...

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Posted in: ICT

Smart cities market worth $1 trillion by 2016

According to a new market research report, “Smart Cities Market (2011 - 2016) - Projects, Advanced Technologies, Adoptions and Transformations - Worldwide Market Report”, published by MarketsandMarkets, the total Smart cities market is expected to reach more than $1 trillion by 2016, at a CAGR of 14.2%. Globally, there are some 700 cities, each with population exceeding 500,000 and are growing faster than the average growth rate of cities. This opens up the market for industry players to grow their business in new and emerging smart cities. The infrastructure investment for these cities is forecasted to be $30 trillion to $40 trillion, cumulatively, over the next 20 years.  With growing emphasis on reducing carbon emission and...

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Posted in: smart city

RIM plans to open its first Middle East retail store in Dubai

The BlackBerry phone maker moves forward with a big international push with plans to open retail shops in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and possibly Africa.  With slumping sales in the West, Research In Motion has plans to go to the East. The BlackBerry maker is in the process of opening retail stores throughout the Middle East starting in Dubai, according to Bloomberg. "We're getting the first one up and running and then we'll be looking at other cities across the Middle East -- Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar," Sandeep Saihgal, the managing director of RIM's Middle East business, told Bloomberg in an interview earlier this week. The Dubai store in the United Arab Emirates will be the flagship shop and Bloomberg reports...

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Posted in: ICT

3 things you never knew the Apple iPhone can do

For all the talk of the Apple [AAPL] adventures in mobile and the consumer product focus of the iDevice/iTunes combo, it's dead easy to neglect some of the more world-changing implementations of mobile technology. In tandem with the nascent Machine-to-machine (M2M) industry and the drive to smart cities, smartphones are already changing the world. iPhone in Agriculture  Look at that video above. It dates from 2009 and shows LoadOut Technologies' iPhone-based grain-loading controls in action. The iPhone here is controlling just how much grain is loaded onto those big trucks. Which is cool in a "look at me I've got a robot" kind of a way, but there's more.  In South Korea this year, melon farmers are installing...

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Posted in: ICT

More RIM Shots: BlackBerry Apps & Mishaps Abroad

When I read this story -- "RIM Scrambles to Launch Better LTE Devices" -- I started to think about how Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM) (Nasdaq: RIMM; Toronto: RIM) might save itself, especially now that its troubles are so obvious that financial analysts have all but buried it. (See RIP RIM: Will Foresight Be 20/20?)  Building a better LTE phone will help RIM. But it also stands a good chance of improving its standing outside North America if it applies the right strategy. "We should not forget that RIM is still very strong in some emerging markets -- South Africa, Indonesia, etc.," writes Stela Bokun, an analyst with Pyramid Research .  In Latin America, Bokun points out that RIM had a good year in 2010, but a bad...

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Posted in: Business Management,ICT

Alcatel-Lucent launches on unified communications software for iPad

OpenTouch Conversation will enable users to switch between voice calls, IM and video conferencing without interruptions. Alcatel-Lucent's OpenTouch Conversation software will allow enterprise users to switch among different ways of communicating -including instant messaging, voice calls and video conferencing - without interrupting their conversations. The software will first be available on Apple's iPad, the company said on Monday. The concept of integrating different ways of communicating is far from new, and is often called unified communications in the enterprise market. But products need to become much simpler for the sector to take off on a grander scale, according to Craig Walker, director of product marketing at Alcatel-Lucent's...

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Posted in: ICT

Smart Cities Miss Important Benefits When Telecommunications Service Providers Lack a Key Role

Smart Cities Miss Key Benefits When Telecommunications Service Providers Lack a Key RoleDoes it make sense that telecommunications service providers (SPs) are not playing a critical role in projects to create smart cities? The facts of the matter are that involvement still remains limited. This is true even though telecommunications itself plays a central role. As a result, telecom SPs compete with cable companies, utilities and other service providers in an effort to provide information and communications technology (ICT) and other services.  Reality is that this competition can create a disconnect in the delivery of valuable services, limiting the reach and capabilities of the resulting smart city.  A recent posting...

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Posted in: Business Management,ICT,smart city

Getting Smart About Smart Cities

Isn’t it amazing that today half of the world’s population lives in cities, and just a few decades from now, more than three out of four people will call a city “home”? At the beginning of last century, the number of mega-cities worldwide could be counted on the fingers of one hand. But within some decades, adding the toes of our feet will not be enough to count them.  This growing concentration of people in cities will lead to constraints, new needs and additional pressure on the cities’ various systems. That’s why Jane Anderson, Debbie Fisher and I, all members of the Market and Consumer Insight (MCI) team within Alcatel-Lucent, were asked to study smart cities — and consider related market opportunities.  Research...

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Posted in: ICT,smart city

IBM Helps Geraldton Become a Smarter City

The Western Australia city of Geraldton will receive help from IBM to create a roadmap to improve technology thanks to a grant as part of IBM’s Smart Cities Challenge.  Up to six IBM senior executives from around the world will reside in the city for three weeks and speak to businesses and citizens to ascertain the issues the city is facing. It will then recommend initiatives for improvement.  Miranda Scarff, manager of corporate citizenship and affairs at IBM Australia, told Computerworld that Geraldton’s grant submission was a standout, with the city highlighting its desire to make the most of technology infrastructure investments in the region and the National Broadband Network. The city also wants to improve data...

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Posted in: ICT,smart city

Smart Cities and Telcos – the sleeping giants awake?

If you go back a mere 6 months, the ecosystem of Smart City movers and shakers in discussions, conferences and exciting new service concepts was similar to that of today but with one exception; the Communications Service Providers (CSPs), specifically the Telecoms Operators were not there in the front line of the movemen...

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Posted in: Business Management,ICT,smart city

Cisco's Booming Business in Smart Cities

Our world is increasingly an urban one--the United Nations projects that nearly 5 billion people will live in cities by the year 2030, due to both the expansion of mega-cities and the creation of new urban centers. Cisco wants to be the company that makes all those metropolises not just function, but flourish.  The company is peddling its knowledge and its services to city planners around the world, and last week it announced that it had picked up three important new customers. Developers in India, Ecuador, and Canada have asked Cisco to come up with master plans for fully wired communities. Presumably if the customers like the results they'll ask Cisco to put its plans into action.  It's important progress in a growing...

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Posted in: Business Management,ICT,smart city

Google plans home entertainment system

Internet search giant reportedly planning move into consumer electronics with a new music streaming system controlled by Android smartphones&nbs...

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Posted in: ICT

Nine Things Successful People Do Differently

Why have you been so successful in reaching some of your goals, but not others? If you aren't sure, you are far from alone in your confusion. It turns out that even brilliant, highly accomplished people are pretty lousy when it comes to understanding why they succeed or fail. The intuitive answer — that you are born predisposed to certain talents and lacking in others — is really just one small piece of the puzzle. In fact, decades of research on achievement suggests that successful people reach their goals not simply because of who they are, but more often because of what they do.&nbs...

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Posted in: Business Management

What do Smart Cities, Economic Development and Wealth Creation Have in Common?

Too often the answer is “not much”. When smart cities support wealth creation, they become a powerful economic force. Wealth is the engine that powers community prosperity.&nb...

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Posted in: Business Management,smart city