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Pulling a Zuckerberg, or How to Kill a $100B IPO May 14, 2012 
Last week was rather quiet except for the increasing drama surrounding Facebook and what was to be their $100B IPO. It could still be, but thanks to its young, inexperienced, and clearly still-maturing CEO, it found itself digging out of an avoidable hole. Its experienced executive team was by all reports doing a terrific job until Zuckerberg decided to show up at an IPO pitch in a hoodie.
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NAD Finds Oracle's Pants on Fire May 12, 2012 
It pays to advertise, right? Not necessarily, as Oracle found out when it tangled with IBM recently over advertisements in which Oracle claimed its servers were faster and much less expensive than IBM hardware. Unlike Oracle's headline-grabbing Java copyright and patent infringement suit against Google, Big Blue didn't spend big bucks to take on Oracle in court.
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When Your Business Goofs, CRM Can Be Your Best Friend May 10, 2012 
There are three things certain in life. We all know the two cited by Benjamin Franklin, but there's a third certainty that we all face regularly and have to cope with constantly. That's the certainty that we'll make mistakes. Everyone makes them; if it hasn't happened to your business, you haven't been in business long.
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iPad: Desperately Seeking Guest Mode May 10, 2012 
After you get over the worry that kids or grandmothers are going to drop your iPad and then accidentally trod on it or stab it with the leg of a walker, other problems quickly arise: For instance, what sort of iMessage or Reminder is going to pop up from your crass buddy and mortify your grandma? Which email from the friend who won't stop sending the joke emails is going show up in front of a kid?
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Will Apple or Google Buy Sprint to Break Into the Wireless Network Biz? May 10, 2012 
Recently, I gave a speech at a company and one of the executives raised an interesting question: Will Apple or Google -- or both -- enter the wireless networking fray, just as both have become competitors in the smartphone side of the business? I believe the answer is yes. How is the question.
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VMware View 5.1 and the Future of End-User Computing May 08, 2012 
For those familiar with traditional thin-client computing, virtual desktop infrastructure solutions feel virtually like old home week with a couple of notable exceptions. First, rather than depending on dedicated data center-to-desktop hardware resources, VDI leverages server, storage and networking components that are typically part of larger virtualized IT infrastructures.
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Mixed Signals in IT's Great IP War May 08, 2012 
Recent news that Microsoft and Barnes & Noble agreed to partner on the Nook e-reader line rather than keep fighting suggests the prospect of fewer IP suits in the industry. However, the deal further obscures the blurry IP and patent landscape currently impacting both enterprise IT and consumer technology. It is good to see settlement. However, this settlment comes from the one conflict in this ongoing war that was actually shedding some light on the matter.
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The Un-Death of the PC May 07, 2012 
This occurred to me last Thursday when first-quarter PC sales came out. Apparently, sales are up 21 percent year-over-year and HP retook the lead from Apple in this segment. In this report, Apple's numbers include iPads, and sales for iPads collapsed in the first quarter. This got me thinking of the scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail when the cart is picking up dead bodies during the Black Plague and one "corpse" not only isn't dead but feels like dancing.
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Making Customers the Object of Devotion May 07, 2012 
The proliferation of customer service channels can be both a blessing and a curse. It can be a blessing in that companies now have more ways than ever to address customer needs and resolve customer issues, potentially leading to increased customer satisfaction, loyalty and retention. At the same time, the proliferation of customer service channels can be a curse.
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The Sad 'Wake Up' Saga Just Gets Sadder May 03, 2012 
I'm often blown away by the pathetically misguided marketing campaigns that clearly out-of-touch executives in large corporations green light ... and then shell out millions of dollars to put into motion. But the "Wake Up" flashmob that tumbled out of a clearly expensive bus in Sydney, Australia, had me scratching my head while simultaneously clutching my belly to ease the pain of laughing so hard.
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3 CRM Traits Shared by Good People and Great Companies May 03, 2012 
I just wrote a note to a friend of mine thanking him for his participation at a conference I recently helped organize. It was a thank you note, and he's a CRM industry influencer; I won't divulge names, because it's not important to my point, nor do I want to seen like too much of a suck-up. In any event, I was grateful for his participation in the show -- not just for his session, but for his behavior at this and every other CRM event he goes to.
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The Shape of Wireless Things to Come May 03, 2012 
Congratulations to Samsung on earning the No. 1 position in the wireless smartphone sector. On the other hand, what is the problem at Nokia and RIM? What is happening? What other earthshaking changes can we expect in the wireless space next? Plenty. We are just getting started. So who and what will lead going forward? Things change quickly -- and this is just the beginning.
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Closing the Tech Ed Gap: Earning a Degree in Employability May 01, 2012 
The current brouhaha over the possible increase of federal student loan rates masks a greater problem: We are graduating a generation of people with college-level skills that our companies don't value. This is the root of the "jobless recovery." Businesses need capabilities that fresh graduates don't offer; thus the recent Huffington Post report that half of today's college graduates are under- or unemployed.
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A New Day Is Dawning for the Technology Market April 30, 2012 
Last week, I was at the Dell annual Industry Analyst Conference, and it suddenly struck me that we are looking at a very different technology market this decade. Apple is expected to slide, largely due to the firm's inability to replace Steve Jobs; the dynamic that created Microsoft is changing, and analysts are questioning the firm's relevance as Dell and HP ramp up their own software efforts. Dell, in particular, is doing some really interesting things.
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CTIA Wireless 2012: A Show of a Different Color April 26, 2012 
Would it surprise you if I said the upcoming CTIA Wireless 2012 show will be very different from those in the past? I've been going to these wireless shows for more years than I can remember.
Every few years, the show -- and in fact the entire industry -- changes. This is a great showplace for what is new and what is coming next in the wireless industry -- and next month's show should be no exception.
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Penetrating the Vast, Untapped Reaches of the CRM Market April 26, 2012 
CRM is not a small market. Nor is it a niche sequestered away in a corner of the larger CRM market. CRM is a $13.045 billion industry in 2012, and it will grow to $16.694 billion in 2015, according to Gartner. No matter how you look at things, that's a lot of money.
With a projected growth of nearly 30 percent in three years, it would be easy to assume that CRM has achieved significant penetration.
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The MacPad Will Come - but Software Convergence Will Come First April 26, 2012 
Despite all the fantastic numbers delivered by Apple when it revealed its latest fiscal quarterly profits this week -- such as an eye-popping 94 percent net profit year-to-year increase -- one question and one rambling answer from Apple CEO Tim Cook made me sit up in my chair. The question: Will Apple create a converged iPad/MacBook with a built-in keyboard?
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Following Intel's Ivy Bridge Road April 25, 2012 
The tech industry loves the concept of new innovation to the point where product launches all too often call to mind infatuated elders showing off photos of their latest grandkids. But practicality tends to drive the manufacturing side of the IT business, with consistency trumping innovation. As a result, products arrive at market on time, retailers and their customers don't get grumpy, vendors hit their sales targets, and shareholders are happy campers.
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