Quick review of The Next Generation Sony PSP

Sony has unveiled two new ways for players to enjoy games on the move - the NGP (Next Generation Portable) and the PlayStation Suite.

FAMILIAR BUT BETTER: The NGP looks similar to its predecessor, but a closer examination at the hardware reveals that the NGP has way more features than the PSP.

AH, Japan, a land of wonder and mystery! And in case you're wondering, the mystery that had been on a lot of people's minds lately was "what will Sony unveil during the 2011 PlayStation Meeting in Tokyo?" The event, held at the Prince Park Tower in Tokyo on Jan 27, was hinted to be a big one for Sony.

And judging from the number of people and press members from around the world in attendance, everyone guessed that Sony had a really big surprise waiting to be unveiled.

Well, they were close. Sony had TWO big surprises, both of which were aimed at changing how players enjoyed PlayStation games on the move: The PlayStation Suite and the NGP.

If you're a PlayStation fan, this is a good time to be gaming.

UNEXPECTED: The rear of the NGP is home to a capacitive touch pad.

Open Station

Sony's first big reveal in Tokyo is something that'll leave players and developers who love open development platforms jumping for joy. The PlayStation Suite is - if you'll bear with the technical mumbo jumbo for a while - a cross-platform, hardware-neutral framework for delivering PlayStation game content across different devices.

Or, to put it simply: we're going to get PlayStation games on Android. Oh, YES.

This is really big news for the mobile phone gaming scene; currently, Apple's iOS (iPhones, iPads) devices have the lion's share of gaming on mobile phones.

Popular "casual" games for mobiles phones, such as Angry Birds and Cut The Rope, are practically synonymous with iPhone gaming Google's Android is the iOS's closest competitor in the world of app-centric mobile phone platforms, but thus far one of the biggest things holding Android back - notably from a gamer's point of view - is its lack of a rich library of games.

The introduction of the PlayStation Suite into the market has the potential to change all this. After all, the PlayStation brand is already well-known among consumers, and the extended PlayStation family has a proven pedigree of popular games.

An existing library of PlayStation- compatible games combined with new PlayStation-based games developed specifically for Android can only make Android a much, much more attractive system for gamers.

Sony's making a concerted effort at enticing developers to work on the platform, so as always we're eager to hear what unique new titles will be announced.

However, before you get too excited and start purchasing Android phones in bulk, keep in mind that this is just an early announcement, so save some of your enthusiasm for when the online PlayStation Store for Android actually opens its doors. Sony's hoping to launch the PlayStation Suite within the year and to kick it off, the first PlayStation Suite games you'll see on Android devices - phones or Tablets -will be classic PS One games.

There are no hints as to which games will be the first ones released, but we have our fingers crossed for Final Fantasy VII. (We never got around to finishing that RPG.)

TOUCH THIS: The addition of the capacitive touchpad at the rear of the NGP underlines Sony's efforts to make it have a unique and immersive user interface.

Son of PSP

If you're a PlayStation fan who's not particularly excited about playing games on Android phones, thinking that "pshaw, those aren't REAL gaming machines," then fine. No problem.

That's why Sony also made a point to announce the successor to its PSP portable gaming device: the Next Generation Portable or NGP.

The NGP is at a glance similar to its predecessor, but a closer examination at the hardware reveals that the NGP, true to its name, has way, way more features than the PSP.

The most pronounced additions to the device are the dual analogue sticks (which is particularly promising for first-person shooters), the front/ rear cameras and the larger 5in Organic LED screen.

We'll reserve judgement for when we get our hands on the finalised device, but the games demoed during the PlayStation Meeting already demonstrated how sharp and clear the graphics on the portable device could be.

Why, we almost wanted to reach out and touch the game world...

Although, now that we think about it, that might have been a bad idea.

The 5in screen is actually a capacitive touchscreen, so we might have accidentally fired a missile at an ally or something. Of course, touchscreens are pretty much standard fare for mobile devices these days, but in a move that nobody saw coming, Sony also added a capacitive touchpad to the rear of the NGP.

It's a strange design, but one of the new games demoed for the NGP - Little Deviants -showed the potential of the feature.

The game screen - and hence the game world -was essentially sandwiched between two touch sensors, allowing the player to "pinch" and "poke" at elements in the game from different directions; like the game world was on a piece of paper in your hands.

It's a different take on user input and, combined with elements such as the six-axis motion sensors, it underlines the NGP's efforts at making a unique and immersive user interface.

You can't run from the network

Now, given technology's inexorable march towards social networking, it's inevitable that the other big push that Sony is making for the NGP is its networking aspect.

As an example of this, every game on the NGP will feature a "Live Area" accessible from the NGP menu screen; this is a combination of a boot screen, an online updates page and a place where you can see what other players are doing or chat with them.

If the Live Area feature is reminiscent in functionality to a Facebook page, then the NGP's location services - such as its ability to let you know what nearby players are playing - kind of reminds us of FourSquare.

We're not entirely sure yet why we'd want to know what gamers around us are playing, but we're certainly interested in using the location services to figure out where's that guy who keeps beating us at Call of Duty. Sony, please put that feature in.

Now, let's wrap things up for the NGP: The 3G-and-WiFi-enabled portable gaming system is eschewing the less-flexible UMD media in favour of downloadable games and a new Flash-based memory card format exclusive for the NGP.

Also, PlayStation games developed for Android will be compatible with the NGP, as Sony's planning on a lot of connection between the two sister systems.

The NGP is slated for release during the 2011 holiday season, but alas, further confirmed details are scarce.

We're still eagerly waiting to find out the NGP's pricing as well as the list of launch titles, but for now Sony's just happy enough to just tease us with the general concepts for its Next Generation Portable.

On the plus side, it looks like we already know what to ask Santa for Christmas.

Conclusion

Any way you look at it, the surprises revealed at Sony's PlayStation Meeting holds a lot of promise for the future of portable gaming. Having a feature-laden successor to the PSP is always a welcome thing among gamers, but it's the PlayStation-Android collaboration that's even more exciting as it has the potential to cause a big change in the world of mobile gaming.

Sony's new portable gaming platforms look to be very attractive prospects for game developers, but frankly it's the gamers that would benefit the most from the potentially large library of games that could be developed. The only thing we as gamers need to do is to wait and see if those games live up to our now high expectations.

Until the next time Sony shares more details with us, we're going to keep on wondering and anticipating what the next generation of portable gaming has in store.

Quick review of The Next Generation Sony PSP

Sony has unveiled two new ways for players to enjoy games on the move - the NGP (Next Generation Portable) and the PlayStation Suite.

FAMILIAR BUT BETTER: The NGP looks similar to its predecessor, but a closer examination at the hardware reveals that the NGP has way more features than the PSP.

AH, Japan, a land of wonder and mystery! And in case you're wondering, the mystery that had been on a lot of people's minds lately was "what will Sony unveil during the 2011 PlayStation Meeting in Tokyo?" The event, held at the Prince Park Tower in Tokyo on Jan 27, was hinted to be a big one for Sony.

And judging from the number of people and press members from around the world in attendance, everyone guessed that Sony had a really big surprise waiting to be unveiled.

Well, they were close. Sony had TWO big surprises, both of which were aimed at changing how players enjoyed PlayStation games on the move: The PlayStation Suite and the NGP.

If you're a PlayStation fan, this is a good time to be gaming.

UNEXPECTED: The rear of the NGP is home to a capacitive touch pad.

Open Station

Sony's first big reveal in Tokyo is something that'll leave players and developers who love open development platforms jumping for joy. The PlayStation Suite is - if you'll bear with the technical mumbo jumbo for a while - a cross-platform, hardware-neutral framework for delivering PlayStation game content across different devices.

Or, to put it simply: we're going to get PlayStation games on Android. Oh, YES.

This is really big news for the mobile phone gaming scene; currently, Apple's iOS (iPhones, iPads) devices have the lion's share of gaming on mobile phones.

Popular "casual" games for mobiles phones, such as Angry Birds and Cut The Rope, are practically synonymous with iPhone gaming Google's Android is the iOS's closest competitor in the world of app-centric mobile phone platforms, but thus far one of the biggest things holding Android back - notably from a gamer's point of view - is its lack of a rich library of games.

The introduction of the PlayStation Suite into the market has the potential to change all this. After all, the PlayStation brand is already well-known among consumers, and the extended PlayStation family has a proven pedigree of popular games.

An existing library of PlayStation- compatible games combined with new PlayStation-based games developed specifically for Android can only make Android a much, much more attractive system for gamers.

Sony's making a concerted effort at enticing developers to work on the platform, so as always we're eager to hear what unique new titles will be announced.

However, before you get too excited and start purchasing Android phones in bulk, keep in mind that this is just an early announcement, so save some of your enthusiasm for when the online PlayStation Store for Android actually opens its doors. Sony's hoping to launch the PlayStation Suite within the year and to kick it off, the first PlayStation Suite games you'll see on Android devices - phones or Tablets -will be classic PS One games.

There are no hints as to which games will be the first ones released, but we have our fingers crossed for Final Fantasy VII. (We never got around to finishing that RPG.)

TOUCH THIS: The addition of the capacitive touchpad at the rear of the NGP underlines Sony's efforts to make it have a unique and immersive user interface.

Son of PSP

If you're a PlayStation fan who's not particularly excited about playing games on Android phones, thinking that "pshaw, those aren't REAL gaming machines," then fine. No problem.

That's why Sony also made a point to announce the successor to its PSP portable gaming device: the Next Generation Portable or NGP.

The NGP is at a glance similar to its predecessor, but a closer examination at the hardware reveals that the NGP, true to its name, has way, way more features than the PSP.

The most pronounced additions to the device are the dual analogue sticks (which is particularly promising for first-person shooters), the front/ rear cameras and the larger 5in Organic LED screen.

We'll reserve judgement for when we get our hands on the finalised device, but the games demoed during the PlayStation Meeting already demonstrated how sharp and clear the graphics on the portable device could be.

Why, we almost wanted to reach out and touch the game world...

Although, now that we think about it, that might have been a bad idea.

The 5in screen is actually a capacitive touchscreen, so we might have accidentally fired a missile at an ally or something. Of course, touchscreens are pretty much standard fare for mobile devices these days, but in a move that nobody saw coming, Sony also added a capacitive touchpad to the rear of the NGP.

It's a strange design, but one of the new games demoed for the NGP - Little Deviants -showed the potential of the feature.

The game screen - and hence the game world -was essentially sandwiched between two touch sensors, allowing the player to "pinch" and "poke" at elements in the game from different directions; like the game world was on a piece of paper in your hands.

It's a different take on user input and, combined with elements such as the six-axis motion sensors, it underlines the NGP's efforts at making a unique and immersive user interface.

You can't run from the network

Now, given technology's inexorable march towards social networking, it's inevitable that the other big push that Sony is making for the NGP is its networking aspect.

As an example of this, every game on the NGP will feature a "Live Area" accessible from the NGP menu screen; this is a combination of a boot screen, an online updates page and a place where you can see what other players are doing or chat with them.

If the Live Area feature is reminiscent in functionality to a Facebook page, then the NGP's location services - such as its ability to let you know what nearby players are playing - kind of reminds us of FourSquare.

We're not entirely sure yet why we'd want to know what gamers around us are playing, but we're certainly interested in using the location services to figure out where's that guy who keeps beating us at Call of Duty. Sony, please put that feature in.

Now, let's wrap things up for the NGP: The 3G-and-WiFi-enabled portable gaming system is eschewing the less-flexible UMD media in favour of downloadable games and a new Flash-based memory card format exclusive for the NGP.

Also, PlayStation games developed for Android will be compatible with the NGP, as Sony's planning on a lot of connection between the two sister systems.

The NGP is slated for release during the 2011 holiday season, but alas, further confirmed details are scarce.

We're still eagerly waiting to find out the NGP's pricing as well as the list of launch titles, but for now Sony's just happy enough to just tease us with the general concepts for its Next Generation Portable.

On the plus side, it looks like we already know what to ask Santa for Christmas.

Conclusion

Any way you look at it, the surprises revealed at Sony's PlayStation Meeting holds a lot of promise for the future of portable gaming. Having a feature-laden successor to the PSP is always a welcome thing among gamers, but it's the PlayStation-Android collaboration that's even more exciting as it has the potential to cause a big change in the world of mobile gaming.

Sony's new portable gaming platforms look to be very attractive prospects for game developers, but frankly it's the gamers that would benefit the most from the potentially large library of games that could be developed. The only thing we as gamers need to do is to wait and see if those games live up to our now high expectations.

Until the next time Sony shares more details with us, we're going to keep on wondering and anticipating what the next generation of portable gaming has in store.

Quick review of The Next Generation Sony PSP

Sony has unveiled two new ways for players to enjoy games on the move - the NGP (Next Generation Portable) and the PlayStation Suite.

FAMILIAR BUT BETTER: The NGP looks similar to its predecessor, but a closer examination at the hardware reveals that the NGP has way more features than the PSP.

AH, Japan, a land of wonder and mystery! And in case you're wondering, the mystery that had been on a lot of people's minds lately was "what will Sony unveil during the 2011 PlayStation Meeting in Tokyo?" The event, held at the Prince Park Tower in Tokyo on Jan 27, was hinted to be a big one for Sony.

And judging from the number of people and press members from around the world in attendance, everyone guessed that Sony had a really big surprise waiting to be unveiled.

Well, they were close. Sony had TWO big surprises, both of which were aimed at changing how players enjoyed PlayStation games on the move: The PlayStation Suite and the NGP.

If you're a PlayStation fan, this is a good time to be gaming.

UNEXPECTED: The rear of the NGP is home to a capacitive touch pad.

Open Station

Sony's first big reveal in Tokyo is something that'll leave players and developers who love open development platforms jumping for joy. The PlayStation Suite is - if you'll bear with the technical mumbo jumbo for a while - a cross-platform, hardware-neutral framework for delivering PlayStation game content across different devices.

Or, to put it simply: we're going to get PlayStation games on Android. Oh, YES.

This is really big news for the mobile phone gaming scene; currently, Apple's iOS (iPhones, iPads) devices have the lion's share of gaming on mobile phones.

Popular "casual" games for mobiles phones, such as Angry Birds and Cut The Rope, are practically synonymous with iPhone gaming Google's Android is the iOS's closest competitor in the world of app-centric mobile phone platforms, but thus far one of the biggest things holding Android back - notably from a gamer's point of view - is its lack of a rich library of games.

The introduction of the PlayStation Suite into the market has the potential to change all this. After all, the PlayStation brand is already well-known among consumers, and the extended PlayStation family has a proven pedigree of popular games.

An existing library of PlayStation- compatible games combined with new PlayStation-based games developed specifically for Android can only make Android a much, much more attractive system for gamers.

Sony's making a concerted effort at enticing developers to work on the platform, so as always we're eager to hear what unique new titles will be announced.

However, before you get too excited and start purchasing Android phones in bulk, keep in mind that this is just an early announcement, so save some of your enthusiasm for when the online PlayStation Store for Android actually opens its doors. Sony's hoping to launch the PlayStation Suite within the year and to kick it off, the first PlayStation Suite games you'll see on Android devices - phones or Tablets -will be classic PS One games.

There are no hints as to which games will be the first ones released, but we have our fingers crossed for Final Fantasy VII. (We never got around to finishing that RPG.)

TOUCH THIS: The addition of the capacitive touchpad at the rear of the NGP underlines Sony's efforts to make it have a unique and immersive user interface.

Son of PSP

If you're a PlayStation fan who's not particularly excited about playing games on Android phones, thinking that "pshaw, those aren't REAL gaming machines," then fine. No problem.

That's why Sony also made a point to announce the successor to its PSP portable gaming device: the Next Generation Portable or NGP.

The NGP is at a glance similar to its predecessor, but a closer examination at the hardware reveals that the NGP, true to its name, has way, way more features than the PSP.

The most pronounced additions to the device are the dual analogue sticks (which is particularly promising for first-person shooters), the front/ rear cameras and the larger 5in Organic LED screen.

We'll reserve judgement for when we get our hands on the finalised device, but the games demoed during the PlayStation Meeting already demonstrated how sharp and clear the graphics on the portable device could be.

Why, we almost wanted to reach out and touch the game world...

Although, now that we think about it, that might have been a bad idea.

The 5in screen is actually a capacitive touchscreen, so we might have accidentally fired a missile at an ally or something. Of course, touchscreens are pretty much standard fare for mobile devices these days, but in a move that nobody saw coming, Sony also added a capacitive touchpad to the rear of the NGP.

It's a strange design, but one of the new games demoed for the NGP - Little Deviants -showed the potential of the feature.

The game screen - and hence the game world -was essentially sandwiched between two touch sensors, allowing the player to "pinch" and "poke" at elements in the game from different directions; like the game world was on a piece of paper in your hands.

It's a different take on user input and, combined with elements such as the six-axis motion sensors, it underlines the NGP's efforts at making a unique and immersive user interface.

You can't run from the network

Now, given technology's inexorable march towards social networking, it's inevitable that the other big push that Sony is making for the NGP is its networking aspect.

As an example of this, every game on the NGP will feature a "Live Area" accessible from the NGP menu screen; this is a combination of a boot screen, an online updates page and a place where you can see what other players are doing or chat with them.

If the Live Area feature is reminiscent in functionality to a Facebook page, then the NGP's location services - such as its ability to let you know what nearby players are playing - kind of reminds us of FourSquare.

We're not entirely sure yet why we'd want to know what gamers around us are playing, but we're certainly interested in using the location services to figure out where's that guy who keeps beating us at Call of Duty. Sony, please put that feature in.

Now, let's wrap things up for the NGP: The 3G-and-WiFi-enabled portable gaming system is eschewing the less-flexible UMD media in favour of downloadable games and a new Flash-based memory card format exclusive for the NGP.

Also, PlayStation games developed for Android will be compatible with the NGP, as Sony's planning on a lot of connection between the two sister systems.

The NGP is slated for release during the 2011 holiday season, but alas, further confirmed details are scarce.

We're still eagerly waiting to find out the NGP's pricing as well as the list of launch titles, but for now Sony's just happy enough to just tease us with the general concepts for its Next Generation Portable.

On the plus side, it looks like we already know what to ask Santa for Christmas.

Conclusion

Any way you look at it, the surprises revealed at Sony's PlayStation Meeting holds a lot of promise for the future of portable gaming. Having a feature-laden successor to the PSP is always a welcome thing among gamers, but it's the PlayStation-Android collaboration that's even more exciting as it has the potential to cause a big change in the world of mobile gaming.

Sony's new portable gaming platforms look to be very attractive prospects for game developers, but frankly it's the gamers that would benefit the most from the potentially large library of games that could be developed. The only thing we as gamers need to do is to wait and see if those games live up to our now high expectations.

Until the next time Sony shares more details with us, we're going to keep on wondering and anticipating what the next generation of portable gaming has in store.

The rise of Cloud Computing

Microsoft is bullish of the positive growth of cloud computing adoption in the country. Although he did not want to go into specifics, Microsoft Malaysia managing director, Ananth Lazarus said a rising number of organisations in Malaysia have expressed interest in adopting cloud computing compared to eight months ago.

"The Government sees cloud computing as a catalyst for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to be more competitive," he said in a media briefing on the sidelines of the Microsoft Cloud Summit.

He added that customers today are quickly gaining an understanding of the cloud computing concept.

Ananth's forecast is supported by market analyst company Gartner, which reported that more and more IT organisations are considering to adopt cloud computing to support their business operations.

Gartner research director, Errol Rasit said approximately half of the world's enterprises have already or are planning to invest in cloud computing or cloud computing services this year and the SMEs are not far behind.



"In line with the global trend, we see increased investment from local and international service providers and end-user organisations," Rasit said.

A strengthening world economy will also contribute to the quick adoption of cloud computing.
Quoting a study by Global Insights, he said the Gross Domestic Product of countries in the Asian region will enjoy a growth of between 5% and 6%.

"Businesses are forecasted to grow and as they do, IT managers will need to keep up," he added.
And as it grows, businesses may find it a challenge to balance their IT budget to keep up with the growing computational demand.

Rasit used the Chinese New Year celebrations to illustrate his point.

"Typically, there will be a spike in a business' infrastructure traffic and Internet traffic. The conventional way of dealing with this is to build new infrastructure or go to a third party provider and rent servers on an annual basis," he said.

With cloud computing, businesses don't need to be wasteful and just pay for what they need now.
"When the traffic increases during this short period, businesses can call up a cloud service provider to supply them with the capacity they need for a specified time frame and only pay for what they use. This is business agility," he said.

He added such practice may even enable profit maximisation.

However, before jumping onto the bandwagon, Rasit cautioned that organisations need to understand how to best work with cloud service providers and what they hope to achieve from the investment.

"They need to be clear on what they require from these providers and keep in mind proper security and availability features," he said.

Though the cloud computing conversation is intensifying, Microsoft agrees that there are still issues surrounding data sovereignty and security.

Microsoft tackles this by continuing to do research and development on how to better provide the best security in its products for customers.

It also allows users to have a choice on the type of cloud computing infrastructure they want and what to put on it.

"Not everything must go on a public cloud overnight. Keep some of your apps where data sovereignty is concerned close to you and put some on the public cloud or have your own private cloud. That's the beauty of the cloud, you have a choice," Ananth said.

The rise of Cloud Computing

Microsoft is bullish of the positive growth of cloud computing adoption in the country. Although he did not want to go into specifics, Microsoft Malaysia managing director, Ananth Lazarus said a rising number of organisations in Malaysia have expressed interest in adopting cloud computing compared to eight months ago.

"The Government sees cloud computing as a catalyst for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to be more competitive," he said in a media briefing on the sidelines of the Microsoft Cloud Summit.

He added that customers today are quickly gaining an understanding of the cloud computing concept.

Ananth's forecast is supported by market analyst company Gartner, which reported that more and more IT organisations are considering to adopt cloud computing to support their business operations.

Gartner research director, Errol Rasit said approximately half of the world's enterprises have already or are planning to invest in cloud computing or cloud computing services this year and the SMEs are not far behind.



"In line with the global trend, we see increased investment from local and international service providers and end-user organisations," Rasit said.

A strengthening world economy will also contribute to the quick adoption of cloud computing.
Quoting a study by Global Insights, he said the Gross Domestic Product of countries in the Asian region will enjoy a growth of between 5% and 6%.

"Businesses are forecasted to grow and as they do, IT managers will need to keep up," he added.
And as it grows, businesses may find it a challenge to balance their IT budget to keep up with the growing computational demand.

Rasit used the Chinese New Year celebrations to illustrate his point.

"Typically, there will be a spike in a business' infrastructure traffic and Internet traffic. The conventional way of dealing with this is to build new infrastructure or go to a third party provider and rent servers on an annual basis," he said.

With cloud computing, businesses don't need to be wasteful and just pay for what they need now.
"When the traffic increases during this short period, businesses can call up a cloud service provider to supply them with the capacity they need for a specified time frame and only pay for what they use. This is business agility," he said.

He added such practice may even enable profit maximisation.

However, before jumping onto the bandwagon, Rasit cautioned that organisations need to understand how to best work with cloud service providers and what they hope to achieve from the investment.

"They need to be clear on what they require from these providers and keep in mind proper security and availability features," he said.

Though the cloud computing conversation is intensifying, Microsoft agrees that there are still issues surrounding data sovereignty and security.

Microsoft tackles this by continuing to do research and development on how to better provide the best security in its products for customers.

It also allows users to have a choice on the type of cloud computing infrastructure they want and what to put on it.

"Not everything must go on a public cloud overnight. Keep some of your apps where data sovereignty is concerned close to you and put some on the public cloud or have your own private cloud. That's the beauty of the cloud, you have a choice," Ananth said.

The rise of Cloud Computing

Microsoft is bullish of the positive growth of cloud computing adoption in the country. Although he did not want to go into specifics, Microsoft Malaysia managing director, Ananth Lazarus said a rising number of organisations in Malaysia have expressed interest in adopting cloud computing compared to eight months ago.

"The Government sees cloud computing as a catalyst for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to be more competitive," he said in a media briefing on the sidelines of the Microsoft Cloud Summit.

He added that customers today are quickly gaining an understanding of the cloud computing concept.

Ananth's forecast is supported by market analyst company Gartner, which reported that more and more IT organisations are considering to adopt cloud computing to support their business operations.

Gartner research director, Errol Rasit said approximately half of the world's enterprises have already or are planning to invest in cloud computing or cloud computing services this year and the SMEs are not far behind.



"In line with the global trend, we see increased investment from local and international service providers and end-user organisations," Rasit said.

A strengthening world economy will also contribute to the quick adoption of cloud computing.
Quoting a study by Global Insights, he said the Gross Domestic Product of countries in the Asian region will enjoy a growth of between 5% and 6%.

"Businesses are forecasted to grow and as they do, IT managers will need to keep up," he added.
And as it grows, businesses may find it a challenge to balance their IT budget to keep up with the growing computational demand.

Rasit used the Chinese New Year celebrations to illustrate his point.

"Typically, there will be a spike in a business' infrastructure traffic and Internet traffic. The conventional way of dealing with this is to build new infrastructure or go to a third party provider and rent servers on an annual basis," he said.

With cloud computing, businesses don't need to be wasteful and just pay for what they need now.
"When the traffic increases during this short period, businesses can call up a cloud service provider to supply them with the capacity they need for a specified time frame and only pay for what they use. This is business agility," he said.

He added such practice may even enable profit maximisation.

However, before jumping onto the bandwagon, Rasit cautioned that organisations need to understand how to best work with cloud service providers and what they hope to achieve from the investment.

"They need to be clear on what they require from these providers and keep in mind proper security and availability features," he said.

Though the cloud computing conversation is intensifying, Microsoft agrees that there are still issues surrounding data sovereignty and security.

Microsoft tackles this by continuing to do research and development on how to better provide the best security in its products for customers.

It also allows users to have a choice on the type of cloud computing infrastructure they want and what to put on it.

"Not everything must go on a public cloud overnight. Keep some of your apps where data sovereignty is concerned close to you and put some on the public cloud or have your own private cloud. That's the beauty of the cloud, you have a choice," Ananth said.

Quick review of XtremeMac Tango TRX

The XtremeMac Tango TRX 2.1 Bluetooth audio system allows users of iPhone, iPad and iPod touch (2nd gen) to stream their favourite songs wirelessly to the device.

Manufactured by Imation, the TRX also has a dock to hold and charge the iPhone or iPod Touch.
The audio system's two midrange drivers, two dome tweeters and a downward firing subwoofer produce clear and dynamic sound, the company claimed.

The TRX also has five buttons for controlling playback, bass, treble and other features directly.
You can also control the device using the bundled infrared remote or with a Tango TRX application that can be downloaded from the App Store for free.



The app turns the iPod, iPhone and iPad into a virtual remote and is identical to the physical remote in looks and features. The app also comes with a five-band equaliser that allows users to fine tune the audio output.

Also, both the remote and the Tango TRX app can be used to control the device's functions from up to 30ft (9.14m) away. However, the physical remote requires line-of-sight to work.

The audio system also features LED status indicators and a line-in jack for connecting other audio devices.

Quick review of XtremeMac Tango TRX

The XtremeMac Tango TRX 2.1 Bluetooth audio system allows users of iPhone, iPad and iPod touch (2nd gen) to stream their favourite songs wirelessly to the device.

Manufactured by Imation, the TRX also has a dock to hold and charge the iPhone or iPod Touch.
The audio system's two midrange drivers, two dome tweeters and a downward firing subwoofer produce clear and dynamic sound, the company claimed.

The TRX also has five buttons for controlling playback, bass, treble and other features directly.
You can also control the device using the bundled infrared remote or with a Tango TRX application that can be downloaded from the App Store for free.



The app turns the iPod, iPhone and iPad into a virtual remote and is identical to the physical remote in looks and features. The app also comes with a five-band equaliser that allows users to fine tune the audio output.

Also, both the remote and the Tango TRX app can be used to control the device's functions from up to 30ft (9.14m) away. However, the physical remote requires line-of-sight to work.

The audio system also features LED status indicators and a line-in jack for connecting other audio devices.

Quick review of XtremeMac Tango TRX

The XtremeMac Tango TRX 2.1 Bluetooth audio system allows users of iPhone, iPad and iPod touch (2nd gen) to stream their favourite songs wirelessly to the device.

Manufactured by Imation, the TRX also has a dock to hold and charge the iPhone or iPod Touch.
The audio system's two midrange drivers, two dome tweeters and a downward firing subwoofer produce clear and dynamic sound, the company claimed.

The TRX also has five buttons for controlling playback, bass, treble and other features directly.
You can also control the device using the bundled infrared remote or with a Tango TRX application that can be downloaded from the App Store for free.



The app turns the iPod, iPhone and iPad into a virtual remote and is identical to the physical remote in looks and features. The app also comes with a five-band equaliser that allows users to fine tune the audio output.

Also, both the remote and the Tango TRX app can be used to control the device's functions from up to 30ft (9.14m) away. However, the physical remote requires line-of-sight to work.

The audio system also features LED status indicators and a line-in jack for connecting other audio devices.

Bobbies arrest five in cyberattack probe

LONDON: British police arrested five people on suspicion of involvement in recent cyberattacks conducted by an Internet hacking group that has backed WikiLeaks.

The five males, aged from 15 to 26, were arrested during an early morning raid at their homes across Britain on Tuesday for their alleged involvement in hacking several company websites.

Police say the cyberattacks were carried out by an online group called Anonymous, a loose-knit collection of activists that has attacked websites of companies that have severed links with WikiLeaks since the organisation began publishing its massive trove of secret US diplomatic cables.

The group of so-called "hacktivists" became well known last year when it targeted companies, including Visa, Mastercard and Paypal, shutting down their websites by overloading their servers with a barrage of online traffic.

Supporters of WikiLeaks accused the companies of trying to stifle WikiLeaks when they cut their links to the group.

The raids were part of a police probe into Anonymous carried out together with law enforcement agencies in Europe and the United Stataes, police said. WikiLeaks said it did not sanction retaliatory attacks by Anonymous.

People convicted of computer misuse offenses in Britain face up to 10 years in jail and a £5,000 fine. - AP

Bobbies arrest five in cyberattack probe

LONDON: British police arrested five people on suspicion of involvement in recent cyberattacks conducted by an Internet hacking group that has backed WikiLeaks.

The five males, aged from 15 to 26, were arrested during an early morning raid at their homes across Britain on Tuesday for their alleged involvement in hacking several company websites.

Police say the cyberattacks were carried out by an online group called Anonymous, a loose-knit collection of activists that has attacked websites of companies that have severed links with WikiLeaks since the organisation began publishing its massive trove of secret US diplomatic cables.

The group of so-called "hacktivists" became well known last year when it targeted companies, including Visa, Mastercard and Paypal, shutting down their websites by overloading their servers with a barrage of online traffic.

Supporters of WikiLeaks accused the companies of trying to stifle WikiLeaks when they cut their links to the group.

The raids were part of a police probe into Anonymous carried out together with law enforcement agencies in Europe and the United Stataes, police said. WikiLeaks said it did not sanction retaliatory attacks by Anonymous.

People convicted of computer misuse offenses in Britain face up to 10 years in jail and a £5,000 fine. - AP

Bobbies arrest five in cyberattack probe

LONDON: British police arrested five people on suspicion of involvement in recent cyberattacks conducted by an Internet hacking group that has backed WikiLeaks.

The five males, aged from 15 to 26, were arrested during an early morning raid at their homes across Britain on Tuesday for their alleged involvement in hacking several company websites.

Police say the cyberattacks were carried out by an online group called Anonymous, a loose-knit collection of activists that has attacked websites of companies that have severed links with WikiLeaks since the organisation began publishing its massive trove of secret US diplomatic cables.

The group of so-called "hacktivists" became well known last year when it targeted companies, including Visa, Mastercard and Paypal, shutting down their websites by overloading their servers with a barrage of online traffic.

Supporters of WikiLeaks accused the companies of trying to stifle WikiLeaks when they cut their links to the group.

The raids were part of a police probe into Anonymous carried out together with law enforcement agencies in Europe and the United Stataes, police said. WikiLeaks said it did not sanction retaliatory attacks by Anonymous.

People convicted of computer misuse offenses in Britain face up to 10 years in jail and a £5,000 fine. - AP

Blue Coat's security app for Apple devices

WEB GUARD: The K9 Web Protection Browser
filters out web content that may be
inappropriate for young iPhone, iPad or
iPod Touch users.

Web security service provider Blue Coat Systems has launched its free downloadable app on the Apple AppStore.

Its K9 Web Protection Browser for iOS is a web browser for the Apple iPad, iPhone and web-enabled iPod touch devices.

The browser filters content that may not be appropriate for children like pornography sites, images of hate and violence and gambling sites and also protects users against malware and phishers, the company said.

The K9 Web Protection Browser uses the company's cloud-based WebPulse service that provides users with up-to-the-moment protection from objectionable web content and threats.

The WebPulse service also continually categorises new and evolving web content, giving parents the ability to immediately block objectionable material. The service is driven by the real-time web experience of over 70 million users around the world so that it can quickly find and identify new content and block the latest sources of objectionable content, phishing and malware sites.

Blue Coat claims that on a typical day, the WebPulse service identifies over 110,000 pages of new or previously uncategorised pornographic and adult content.

The K9 Web Protection Browser runs in place of Safari or other browsers that lack the content controls necessary to keep children and families safe online, Blue Coat said.

Blue Coat's security app for Apple devices

WEB GUARD: The K9 Web Protection Browser
filters out web content that may be
inappropriate for young iPhone, iPad or
iPod Touch users.

Web security service provider Blue Coat Systems has launched its free downloadable app on the Apple AppStore.

Its K9 Web Protection Browser for iOS is a web browser for the Apple iPad, iPhone and web-enabled iPod touch devices.

The browser filters content that may not be appropriate for children like pornography sites, images of hate and violence and gambling sites and also protects users against malware and phishers, the company said.

The K9 Web Protection Browser uses the company's cloud-based WebPulse service that provides users with up-to-the-moment protection from objectionable web content and threats.

The WebPulse service also continually categorises new and evolving web content, giving parents the ability to immediately block objectionable material. The service is driven by the real-time web experience of over 70 million users around the world so that it can quickly find and identify new content and block the latest sources of objectionable content, phishing and malware sites.

Blue Coat claims that on a typical day, the WebPulse service identifies over 110,000 pages of new or previously uncategorised pornographic and adult content.

The K9 Web Protection Browser runs in place of Safari or other browsers that lack the content controls necessary to keep children and families safe online, Blue Coat said.

Blue Coat's security app for Apple devices

WEB GUARD: The K9 Web Protection Browser
filters out web content that may be
inappropriate for young iPhone, iPad or
iPod Touch users.

Web security service provider Blue Coat Systems has launched its free downloadable app on the Apple AppStore.

Its K9 Web Protection Browser for iOS is a web browser for the Apple iPad, iPhone and web-enabled iPod touch devices.

The browser filters content that may not be appropriate for children like pornography sites, images of hate and violence and gambling sites and also protects users against malware and phishers, the company said.

The K9 Web Protection Browser uses the company's cloud-based WebPulse service that provides users with up-to-the-moment protection from objectionable web content and threats.

The WebPulse service also continually categorises new and evolving web content, giving parents the ability to immediately block objectionable material. The service is driven by the real-time web experience of over 70 million users around the world so that it can quickly find and identify new content and block the latest sources of objectionable content, phishing and malware sites.

Blue Coat claims that on a typical day, the WebPulse service identifies over 110,000 pages of new or previously uncategorised pornographic and adult content.

The K9 Web Protection Browser runs in place of Safari or other browsers that lack the content controls necessary to keep children and families safe online, Blue Coat said.

Facebook to require games to accept its 'credits'

NEW YORK: Facebook will require all games on its site to accept payments through its own virtual currency system beginning July 1.

Although game developers won't have to use Facebook Credits as their only in-game currency, those who do will get special incentives, such as early access to new product features and more desirable targeting for ads, the company said.

Facebook gets a 30% cut when developers use Credits to sell virtual goods and other items. Although Facebook relies mostly on advertisements to make money, the payments system lets Facebook broaden its revenue sources.

Deborah Liu, a platform marketing manager at Facebook, said in a blog post that more than 350 applications from 150 game developers already use Credits. That accounts for more than 70% of all virtual goods transactions on the site.


Facebook users can use virtual currency to buy items such as special crops in FarmVille and virtual deep fryers in Cafe World, both from Zynga. Credits can be purchased through Facebook using PayPal, credit cards or a mobile phone account.

Facebook, which is based in Palo Alto, California, said it plans to work with developers who don't use Credits yet to get feedback and make improvements to the system. - AP