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Box.net finally gets desktop file sync
Online storage and collaboration service Box.net is finally getting around to offering its users a feature that was long-overdue: desktop synchronization.
The feature, which rolls out to business users Thursday morning, takes whatever files you've added to your online storage account and ferries them over to a local machine. It also does the same thing going the other way.
In order to use it, users must be subscribers of Box's business and enterprise tiers, leaving those with the free and individual plans out in the cold. It's also Windows only to start with, though Box's CEO Aaron Levie, whom CNET spoke with on Tuesday, said that a Mac version will be ready in a few months time.
Box's new desktop sync app makes sure files from your box account get sent to your local machine and vice versa. It's currently Windows only.
(Credit: Box / CNET)Like any other file or folder you have stored on Box, the local instances of these items can be shared with other people in your Box workgroups. Levie compared this to being on a network share on a company's local Intranet, but one that lives in the cloud. "The vision is enabling a simple sync case that's collaborative. So even if I have 1 terabyte of data stored on my desktop, I only need to be syncing a couple GB of the most active stuff to my Box account," he said.
Along with synchronizing files, the desktop software can keep track of any changes, then send them to Box's news feed. This lets you see if a file has been changed or commented on through Box's Web interface. This is, in fact, the only place to see this information, besides your e-mail in-box--where Box can send notifications on when other people in your workgroup download, delete, or make any changes to files or folders.
For those who are curious, Levie says the file size limits for what can be synced up to Box's cloud storage through the sync app are the same as the Web version. This means you're unable to use the software to get around the rather arbitrary 2GB per file cap, which is a bit of a shame.
The new feature goes out to business and enterprise users Thursday morning. Storage alternatives with a similar desktop sync component include Dropbox, SugarSync, SpiderOak, Windows Live Mesh, and MobileMe to name a few.
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Friday Poll: Which Google stunt would grab you?
Yes, I follow Ashton on Twitter. Yes, I'm OK with that.
(Credit: Matt Hickey/CNET)CNET News Poll
Google on Thursday rolled out a new feature to let people choose background photos and colors for their Google home pages--a la Microsoft's Bing--then retracted it 14 hours later.
It was a 24-hour experiment, Google says, but before it was done, the company yanked it after discovering a "bug" that erased a link under the google.com search bar explaining why the usually unadorned home page had gotten so colorful.
Colorful backgrounds are one of the things that set Bing apart from Google, so naturally Bing fans are snickering to themselves, and maybe rightly so; the experiment seemed to be a failure.
This comes on the tail of the famous Pac-Man game embedded in the home page and the World Cup Easter egg hidden in search. When Google rolls out new features and fun toys it rarely makes noise about them, and this was no exception. But usually the stunts work out well.
So we were wondering: What other hijinks can G-Money pull to get our positive attention? I've come up with a few good ides, but I'm sure there are great ones I didn't include. Be sure to leave them in the comments section below so other readers can tell you why you're clearly wrong.
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How to update your GPS maps: Garmin edition
We'll show you how to get the newest map data for your Garmin Nuvi.
(Credit: Antuan Goodwin/CNET)
A GPS device is only as good as its maps, so you want to make sure that you have the newest, most accurate map data available before you hit the road. This week, we're taking a look at the process of updating the map data on Garmin's Nuvi line of portable navigation devices. In the weeks that follow, we'll be covering how to update devices from TomTom and Magellan, among others.
Updating the maps on your GPS device used to be a complete pain in the butt. You'd have to order your update on CD, DVD, or SD card and wait for it to arrive in the mail. These days, fresh map data is often only a download away, but that doesn't make it any less of a pain in the butt. Case in point: grabbing Garmin's maps required no fewer than three software downloads and about an hour of waiting for the 2GB of map data to download and install. It can be a bitter pill to swallow, but it's a price we'd gladly pay to make sure that we actually get where we're trying to go.
Of course, map updates usually aren't free, but nearly all of the major GPS device manufacturers are starting to offer devices with free lifetime map updates. Additionally, most new GPS devices feature some sort of map guarantee that entitles users to one update to the newest map data within the first 30 days of ownership, free of charge. So, there's really no excuse to put up with outdated maps, even if you've purchased an older GPS unit.
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This week in Crave: The getting-face-time edition
No needles needed.
(Credit: Pantec Solutions)
Too busy jonesing for the latest iPhone to stay up on Crave this week? Here's a sampling of the news you missed while you were daydreaming about Apple's latest crushworthy toy.
• After Steve Jobs announced the iPhone 4, we looked at its FaceTime video feature,accessories, and some reasons not to upgrade.
(Credit: Sirobako)See anything we missed? Send all those laboratory-fresh story tips--including your latest DIY creations--to crave at cnet dot com.
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Another release candidate for Thunderbird 'Lanikai'
Mozilla published a second release candidate for the next build of Thunderbird on Wednesday. Judging from the public bug list, only one critical bug kept Thunderbird 3.1 Release Candidate 2 from becoming the final build of the current branch, code-named Lanikai.
Available for Windows, Mac, and Linux, this second release candidate fixes one critical bug on Macs, one major bug on all platforms, and three ''normal'' priority bugs. The now-fixed Mac bug had caused the open-source e-mail client to crash, and then crash again on subsequent launchings. The cross-platform, major-level bug repaired a settings migration assistant problem where the tool didn't recognize advanced IMAP synchronization settings. The full bug list can be read here.
Thunderbird 3.1 will feature a new migration assistant and new setup wizard, saved files manager similar to Firefox's Download Manager, quick filter toolbar, and faster search results. Assuming no other critical bugs are discovered, the final release of Thunderbird 3.1 can be expected on schedule for sometime in the next week.
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Adobe's AIR 2: Faster, with better HTML
Adobe Systems on Thursday released AIR 2, upgrading the features and aspirations for the software foundation.
AIR is a programming foundation that lets a Net application run on a variety of computing platforms--Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and, significantly, forthcoming Google Android mobile phones now as well. The software can run standalone programs written either with Adobe's Flash technology or, courtesy of a built-in WebKit browser engine, with HTML and JavaScript, too. AIR applications run on their own, though, not within a browser.
Adobe has had some significant successes with AIR. It is installed on "nearly 300 million desktop computers," Adobe said. It's used for applications including the Tweetdeck's software for bringing some order to the chaos of Twitter, Facebook, and Buzz; a New York Times reader with a built-in crossword puzzle; and an interface to 120 years' worth of National Geographic issues.
But it's got big challenges, too. At the same time AIR is arriving on Android devices with the upcoming 2.2 upgrade, it is banished from Apple's IOS devices--the iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad--undermining its cross-platform advantages. HTML and JavaScript in a browser can handle an increasing amount of what AIR can do, although efforts such as Mozilla Prism to break Web applications free of browser frames haven't made much headway. And in general, it's always hard to convince developers to commit to a new programming platform.
Adobe expects AIR 2 will help, though. Among its new features, according to Adobe:
• Diminished memory and processing demands.
• Better networking features, for example supporting the newer IPv6 Internet standard or enabling multiplayer games that need chat.
• Support for modern Web standards such as CSS3's transforms and HTML5's Canvas 2D graphics.
• Better performance when running JavaScript.
• Better control over printing.
• The ability to integrate with applications running natively on a computer.
• Better hardware support including multitouch interfaces, printer control, USB drive detection, and microphone recording.
Flash is at the center of a debate between Apple and Adobe, with Apple deriding it as an insecure, battery-draining, unstable technology and Adobe criticizing Apple's heavy-handed controls over developer choices. Adobe is working to make Flash--and therefore AIR as well--better on Macs, though, in part through taking advantage ofsome hardware acceleration features. Through a project called Gala, Adobe also is working on some video decoding improvements made possible after Apple opened up an interface to take advantage of hardware acceleration.
"It is expected that the Gala functionality--H.264 hardware decoding on Mac OS X 10.6.3--will be available in an update following the release of Flash Player 10.1," Adobe said of that project.
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Bringing customer intelligence to the iPhone
Customer intelligence on your iPhone
(Credit: Medallia)
In a recent conversation about predictive analytics, I learned how Wal-Mart Stores uses statistical modeling to better understand the habits and tendencies of its customers--and how businesses can use this data to drive competitive pricing to dominate a market.
Imagine that same type of customer intelligence, delivered almost instantaneously, into the hands of store managers on-site or corporate executives on their iPhone or iPad.
That's what Medallia, a provider of customer feedback and performance data software, aims to provide with a new offering this week on the heels of the new iPhone 4 announcement. Medallia gets its information from all those survey requests you receive from hotels, retailers, banks, and other consumer services.
According to Medallia CEO and co-founder Borge Hald, this data, when mined properly, can let a brand executive at Nike, for example, know what customers think about Kobe Bryant's new sneaker across U.S. regions, or it could enable the manager of a Four Seasons hotel to tell corporate headquarters which new concierge services received the best responses from guests. Apple's iPhone and iPad offer an easy-to-use interface for this data, helping managers to make decisions in near real time.
I caught up with Hald this week to discuss customer experience management and its new mobile application.
Q: What do you mean by "customer experience management," and why does it matter?
Hald: Customer experience management (CEM) goes by a lot of names--customer intelligence, enterprise feedback management, even social CRM, to name a few--but it is the practice of using customer feedback to improve operations and sales. Not to be confused with CRM, which focuses on streamlining the sales cycle, CEM is actually a complementary system that is more focused on the actual interactions customers have with brands.
Hald: Customer experience management (CEM) goes by a lot of names--customer intelligence, enterprise feedback management, even social CRM, to name a few--but it is the practice of using customer feedback to improve operations and sales. Not to be confused with CRM, which focuses on streamlining the sales cycle, CEM is actually a complementary system that is more focused on the actual interactions customers have with brands.
Currently, it's the big brands in hospitality, retail, and financial services that have made investments in customer experience. What we found with our customers was that though the initial goal for most of them was to save risky customers from switching brands, they also saw a boost in revenue. In fact, our clients are in sectors that were hit the hardest by the recession, but they all saw revenue growth during this period.
How do you see customer analytics delivering value over the iPhone?
Hald: Ultimately, we want to help companies become better at listening to customers and acting on that feedback. Call centers, Web surveys, social networks like Facebook and Twitter, online forums, and receipt-based surveys are all hard-to-monitor sources of customer experience intel.
Hald: Ultimately, we want to help companies become better at listening to customers and acting on that feedback. Call centers, Web surveys, social networks like Facebook and Twitter, online forums, and receipt-based surveys are all hard-to-monitor sources of customer experience intel.
Customer intelligence is used for decision making from a local level to the boardroom. Most people who interact with customers don't sit behind a desk all day, so we needed to put information on something that's carried with them--like their iPhone. Now, whether you're the CIO, a branch employee walking the floors, or a manager in the back office, you get real-time alerts and analytics about performance and customer sentiment.
Do companies pay more attention to social and mobile Web?
Hald: Well, sales revenue is tied tightly to brand names, so a lot of attention shifts to social networks and the mobile Web. Our clients are household names, so if a conversation is taking place across social forums that could impact their brand, they care.
Hald: Well, sales revenue is tied tightly to brand names, so a lot of attention shifts to social networks and the mobile Web. Our clients are household names, so if a conversation is taking place across social forums that could impact their brand, they care.
Pundits such as Bruce Temkin, Jeremiah Owyang, and Charlene Li at Altimeter have been big proponents of brands navigating their social personas with customers and listen to the "voice of the customer."
In large part, I agree with them, but I am always telling clients not to let social media overplay its part. Fact is, 80 percent of customer referrals still take place offline, and the case could be that only 4 percent of your customers are online, driving 90 percent of the social conversation. The value in CEM software is extracting customer intelligence from the right channels.
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