As we end January, most of us have read various industry articles and blogs predicting the top trends for 2012. Data integration has had its fair share of trends and predictions; Jeff Kaplan and Loraine Lawson both have some of the more interesting blog posts on what they see coming up in 2012. Jeff and Lori both talk about integration and data trends that make perfect sense as the CRM and tech industry in general goes through its own evolutions. You might be already experiencing these trends (or about to experience them) – hybrid, mobile, and of course, the cloud. Other trends may or may not be on your horizon line like social, big data, data marts, and private/public cloud but definitely we’ve seen and heard a lot about them.

Both Jeff and Lori touch on larger trends that are applicable to just about everyone: hybrid, social, mobile, consumerization of IT, and data ownership. Big data, private cloud, and cloud analytics might be a long tail for some. We’ve all read and heard about these throughout 2011 and will continue to do so in 2012. But how does this apply to my business? What does it even mean for integration and why am I reading about this in Scribe’s blog – I’m just trying to integrate my CRM system! It’s like l

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WordPress has updated it’s Android app to version 2.0 to make blogging easier on Android smartphones, with tablets now supported as well.

WordPress for Android 2.0 sports and entirely new design that should make it much easier to use. In every screen the top Action Bar is present, allowing you to switch between blogs or to launch the new Dashboard. The Dashboard gives you quick access to just about anything you could want from your WordPress blog including the ability to make new posts, make new pages, check stats, and check comments. Posting has also been improved to allow for rich text editing. A formatting bar that appears above the keyboard will let bloggers use different text options like italics, bolding, and links. A

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Microsofts results for its second quarter 2012 offered little in the realm of the unexpected: Xbox 360 and Kinect hands-free controllers continued to sell at a steady clip, as did business software, while Windows revenue dipped on softening PC sales. All told, quarterly revenue topped $20.89 billion, a year-over-year increase of 5 percent, with net income of $6.62 billion.

In a Jan. 19 statement released ahead of its quarterly earnings call, Microsoft reported that some 18 million Kinect sensors have been sold to date, firmly establishing the devicewhich will soon spread beyond the gaming realm to Windowsas a solid hit. Office 2010 has managed to sell some 200 million licenses in the 18 months since its launch, the company added, while Windows 8 licenses topped 525 million sold.  

Microsoft has also been pushing several cloud-based productivity initiatives, including Office 365. Today, more than 100,000 businesses have made the commitment to our online services, Peter Klein, Microsofts chief financial officer, told media and analysts listening on the call.

However, those cloud initiatives have yet to generate revenue on the scale of Microsofts traditional software such as Windows and Office.

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We have just released webOS 3.0.5 as an over-the-air update for TouchPads, and the 3.0.5 SDK is now out of Early Access. Get the latest and greatest here.

Highlights include a new Sensor API, the ability to have plug-ins use both processor cores, and improvements to audio and video playback, plus various updates to Enyo we think youll like. Weve also incorporated a homebrew patch to the Bluetooth SPP service to support binary data, so we expect to see some hardware hacks soon.

Enjoy!

Cyber Monday is here… the day when we grudgingly return to work after a 4-day weekend filled with feasting, football, shopping and awkward conversations with relatives that you don’t necessarily get along with. Oh, and the insanity of Black Friday.

Black Friday has come and gone with -hopefully- minimal trampling, but there are still some awesome savings to be found. Cyber Monday is upon us, and with it some of the best online-shopping savings that the all-powerful internet has to offer!

Check out SoftwareMedia.com Cyber Monday 2011 Software Deals for discounts of up to 60%  on the leading brand-names in software!

If you feel like your roads are always the last to be cleared of snow and ice when bad whether hits, you’re not alone.  In Chicago, city officials hope that new city Web site will disprove neighborhood theories of snowplow favoritism.

Many Chicagoans appear to believe that the schedules over Chicago’s nearly 300 snowplows may be politically motivated – clearing the streets and neighborhoods of residents with more clout first.  ChicagoShovels.org will use GPS technology to provide real-time tracking of Chicago’s snowplows, giving a clear view of the roads that get plowed first.  But resolving the whispered theories of favoritism is just one benefit of the new web site.

ChicagoShovels comes mainly in response to a blizzard that closed down the city last February.  The websi

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