BlueStacks has just released a software player (BlueStacks App Player) that allows Windows 7 users to run Android apps within the Windows environment. It is available for free and has some pre-loaded apps. You may encounter some problems installing it on older netbooks or tablets but it should perfectly install and run on any decent x86 Windows system. In addition, starting with Windows 8 release you would be able to run Android apps on ARM architectures as well. With the BlueStacks Cloud Connect app feature users can sync apps between their Android devices and Windows. BlueStacks enables Android applications to run on Windows machines and its technology can be integrated into offerings for both the consumer and commercial (enterprise) market segments.
Last month Zoho Corp. has released a Payment Module for its online Creator platform. Zoho Creator is an intuitive and feature-rich online platform that allows non-programmers to build custom database applications. Customers can build online applications based on business rules within minutes. With the Payments Module users can now build a wide range of online order forms and accept payments for goods sold. The Zoho Creator payment module is integrated with PayPal Gateway. Customers can pay for their orders or donations using their credit cards or PayPal accounts. Zoho.com offers a comprehensive suite of award-winning on-line business, productivity & collaboration applications. To read more go here.
Have you ever wondered how you can transfer a large data set to an online backup provider over a limited bandwidth? There's no need to saturate your limited bandwidth with the upload of the initial full data backup when moving your backup platform to the cloud. With Mozy's Data Shuttle service you will get a storage device, perform the initial backup and send it back to Mozy. Then you can proceed with the daily incremental backups using the cloud as your new backup platform. Data Shuttle is part of the MozyPro business data protection service. The Data Shuttle storage devices can store up to 7.2TB of data. All data stored on the backup devices is encrypted and the service charge is based on the size of the seed per machine backed up. To read more about Mozy's Data Shuttle go here.
The Directory Service Diagnosis tool Dcdiag.exe, performs a number of tests and reports on the overall health of replication and security for Active Directory DS. If you run the tool without any parameters it performs the basic tests and gives you a summary report while with the option /c it runs almost every test. As with most command-line tools you can redirect the results to files of various types including XML formats. If you need to perform specific tests such as, getting errors in the file replication system (FRS), you can use the option /test:Test Name where in this case the Test Name would take the value FrsEvent. To read more about the Repadmin tool go here.
For large corporations it may be justified to have a highly customized and expensive IT help desk system that maintains sophisticated change and release processes. It may include sophisticated identity and access controls, or develop "best practices" based on standards, such as the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) and all this aligned with the business objectives. It is assumed that the necessary resources to support the system are available within large corporations. But what if these resources are unavailable or you don't have the necessary funds to purchase and sustain a similar system? Within SMEs the biggest headache is the lack of resources, not to menetion the up-front costs of hardware and software, and inexistent processes and policies. With the current trend of cloud-based services, an SME can leverage the cloud to enjoy a fully-fledged IT Help desk system. The benefits of shifting the administrative burden of Help Desk systems to the cloud are: • Reducing costs while improving quality of service • Eliminating manual work and encouraging self-service • Speeding up compliance and implementation of best practices • Make it easy to add new capabilities as needed To read more and try out a Cloud-based Help Desk platform go here.