ABL TECHNOLOGY ONLINE  
MARCH 6, 2012
Visit ABL.org

QuickStart Offers Discount on Cloud Conference
Hicham Semaan has set aside 25 tickets for ABL Members or their staff to attend QuickStart Intelligence's 2012 Cloud Intelligence Conferences for just $99 (regular price is $399) - enter “Hicham99” in the promo code area. Discounted registrations will be taken on a first-come, first-served basis, and are valid for March 13 in Anaheim, March 29 in Mountain View, April 17 in Seattle, and May 11 in San Diego.  Also, QuickStart is now offering an exclusive Accelerated Exam Preparation program for the SQL Server 2008 Microsoft Certified Master certification. (Hicham Semaan, Orange County)

Testronic Labs Undertakes Major Digital Upgrade
De Lijn has chosen Testronic Labs to support a major digital upgrade to the official Flemish public transport system. The upgrade, known as ReTiBo (Registration, Ticketing, and On Board Computers), will revolutionize the system by providing important planning information, from ticketing to financial reporting and analysis. Testronic will consult with senior level experts and supply testing methodologies and environments for the entire ReTiBo system. (Seth Hallen, West Los Angeles Round Table)

Sprint Becomes Chrysler's Wireless Engine
Chrysler Group LLC has selected Sprint to develop a robust wireless engine for Chrysler’s Uconnect Program.  Meanwhile, Sprint's new New Ventures organization unveiled open platforms Mobile ID and Mobile Zone to enable International and Wholesale customers to deliver new business models and emerging opportunities that tap into the growth of the Android platform and the popularity of new apps and premium services. (Matt Carter, Orange County)

PeopleG2 Adds Social Media Screening
Social Media Screening is now offered by PeopleG2, which provides an employer the opportunity to utilize an applicant’s social media presence in the overall applicant screening process. It's provided in a legal and FCRA-compliant manner, removing any questionable searches that companies might pursue on their own. Chris Dyer is hosting several upcoming free webinars to explain how it works. (Chris Dyer, West Los Angeles)

Microsemi Delivers New LED Driver for TVs
A revolutionary, new non-dissipative LED backlight driver for LCD TV applications is now available from Microsemi. The LX27901 is the first device of its type to provide LED driving capabilities in televisions based on the LCD Integrated Power Supply architecture, which combines a TV's main power supply together with the LED driver on one lower-cost and higher-efficiency printed circuit board. (Russ Garcia, Orange County)

Cornerstone OnD's Adam Miller Chats with Bill Kutik
A recent Bill Kutik Radio Show featured an interview with Adam Miller, CEO of Cornerstone OnDemand, where, among other things, they discuss the current state of the talent management industry, as well as cloud computing and software-as-a-service. (Adam Miller, West Los Angeles)

INSIGHTS FOR ADAPTIVE BUSINESS LEADERS

Oli Thordarson blogs on:  IT's Hard Lessons
In The Hard Lessons Learned in Information Technology in 2011, Alvaka Network's Oli Thordarson shares his list, which includes: Cloud computing is not the complete panacea it first appears to be; Good security practices are just as easy to implement before a costly breach as compared to after the breach; and Virtualization at the desktop (VDI) is not ready for prime time. (Oli Thordarson, San Gabriel Valley)

Dave Berkus blogs on:  Financing
In Consider all resources before seeking investment, Dave explains that professional investors love to see companies where the first round of financing came from the entrepreneur, showing "skin in the game" and more motivation to succeed because of money invested as well as time and creativity.  And, in Personal Guarantees are a fact of life for many entrepreneurs, Dave shares that the process of borrowing money or financing asset purchases can be an eye-opener for those who are not used to today’s lender and seller aversion to granting easy credit. (Dave Berkus, San Gabriel Valley & West Los Angeles)  

Jason Ciment blogs on:  Traffic Tips
In Gain Google SEO Momentum with Optimized YouTube Videos, LADezign's Jason Ciment details how to create informative and engaging YouTube videos to entice prospective clients, as well as how to optimize your video titles, descriptions, tags, and social sharing tactics to maximize exposure and traffic. And, in Get On Board with Google Plus and Boost Your Traffic, Jason elaborates on how maintaining a business page on the high-ranked, Do Follow Google Plus can improve your site’s placement on SERP’s and your brand’s visibility. (Jason Ciment, West Los Angeles)

Subbu Murthy blogs on:  IT Governance
In What is IT Governance?, UGovernIT's Subbu Murthy shares his definition: allocating IT budget to the right IT activity and at the right time. Subbu adds, "the key point is . . . we have narrowed the term to identify IT Governance as managing IT resources effectively." (Subbu Murthy, West Los Angeles)

UPCOMING ROUND TABLES & EVENTS

3/9 - West Los Angeles Round Table
3/28 - Health Reform in Action - San Francisco
4/5 - Orange County Round Table
4/6 - San Gabriel Valley Round Table

AT&T Collaborates with AMA & Intuitive Health
The American Medical Association and AT&T are integrating AMA’s AMAGINE physician community portal with AT&T Healthcare Community Online, creating an advanced collaborative care and Healthcare Information Exchange platform.  Also, AT&T and Intuitive Health are piloting a home-based remote patient monitoring solution that helps engage patients and family in their own care, and integrates with healthcare providers' clinical information systems. (Judi Manis, Orange County, & Marina Younani, San Francisco)

NantWorks Acquires Remote Monitoring Company
Boston Life Labs, a developer of systems for remote monitoring of patient biometric data, has been acquired by NantWorks and will be renamed NantCare. Products include hardware and software to measure blood pressure, blood sugar, weight, medication management, and other key indicators. (Patrick Soon-Shiong, MD, Los Angeles)

PerfectServe Signs 5th Advocate Hospital
695-bed Advocate Christ Medical Center, in Illinois, has selected PerfectServe's clinical communication and information delivery platform to standardize communications between physicians and nursing, pharmacy, and ancillary teams - PerfectServe's fifth deployment with the 11-hospital Advocate Health Care system. (Gene Barduson, San Diego)

QSI Partners with Humana & Suni
NextGen, a subsidiary of Quality Systems, Inc., has entered into an agreement whereby Humana Inc. will provide financial assistance to physicians for the purchase of NextGen Ambulatory EHR and reward them for improved clinical performance.  Also, QSIDental has signed a reseller agreement with Suni Medical Imaging so that healthcare facilities can integrate Suni's sensors, panoramic, cephalometic and 3D imaging products with QSI solutions, including the NextGen Electronic Dental Record. (Steve Plochocki, Orange County)

Apple Becomes World’s Most Valuable Co.
Apple Inc. is now worth $500 billion, and counting, and is currently the world's most valuable company by market value - a measure of the total combined value of all of its outstanding shares of stock. For much of last year, Apple was neck and neck with Exxon Mobil Corp. for that title, but over the last month Apple has catapulted nearly $100B past Exxon, which is now worth about $407B. Only a few companies have ever reached the $500B mark, many of them during periods of economic boom. And while reaching that level is one thing, staying there has proved even harder. Exxon stayed at about $500B for two brief periods toward the end of 2007. According to an analysis by the Associated Press, Microsoft Corp. passed the $500B line in 1999 and then again in 2000, and even reached $600B for one day. But Microsoft's stock has remained static for most of the last decade, and the company is now worth about $267B. Also passing $500B during the technology boom early last decade were Cisco Systems, Intel Corp., and General Electric. Those companies are now worth far less, with Cisco and Intel closer to $100B billion, and GE at $200B. (latimes.com, 2/29/12)
     Meanwhile, Apple also recently reached the 25-billion-apps-downloaded mark. (latimes.com, 3/4/12)

Pew Studies ’Net’s Effect on Youth
According to recent data collected by the Pew Internet Project, 95% of teens 12 to 17 are online, 76% use social networking sites, and 77% have cellphones. And the Pew Research Center, in conjunction with Elon University, released the results of a survey of 1,021 Internet "experts" asked to weigh in on whether growing up in a hyper-connected world will have a net positive effect, or a net negative effect, on today's youth. 55% of respondents said, thanks to the Internet, kids today are learning to crowd source information and quickly locate answers to deep questions; 43% said it's not looking too good for the future of deep thought; and 3% couldn't make up their minds.
     Almost all agreed that in the future there will be a distinct set of skills that young people will need to be successful, including knowing how to solve problems through cooperative work and knowing how to quickly and efficiently find information on the Internet and just as quickly determine if that information has any value. But comments in the report from teachers almost universally bemoan the loss of attention span and ability to think critically in their students. Meanwhile, Hal Varian, chief economist at Google, wrote: ". . . in reality, I think both outcomes will happen. This has been the case for every communications advance: writing, photography, movies, radio, TV, etc. There’s no reason to believe that the internet is any different. It will provide ways to save time, and ways to waste time, and people will take advantage of both opportunities. In balance, however, I lean toward the more optimistic view since a larger fraction of the world's population will now be able to access human knowledge. This has got to be a good thing.” (latimes.com, 2/29/12)

Meanwhile, Gaming May Improve Seniors’ Minds
Can World of Warcraft, the world's most popular multiplayer role-playing game, make your brain work better if you are of relatively advanced age? Two psychology professors at North Carolina State University asked 39 adults ages 60 to 77 to play WoW for two hours a day over two weeks, giving the test group a cognitive exam before and after the period. They also had a control group of adults who did not play the game. The researchers found that two weeks of playing didn't have much effect on the cognitive abilities of the people who had scored well on the baseline test, but there was significant improvement in both spatial ability and focus for the participants who scored low on the initial test. None of the participants in the study had ever played WoW before, but most of them really enjoyed it, and some continued to play after the study was completed. The funding for this project came from a National Science Foundation grant, and not from Blizzard. The results of the study were published in the peer reviewed journal, Computers in Human Behavior. (latimes.com, 2/23/12)

Pope Takes to Twitter for Lent
Pope Benedict XVI is issuing one Papal tweet a day throughout the 40 days of Lent, hoping that it will be retweeted and retweeted, making its way throughout the Twittersphere and possibly having an impact on someone who has given up on religion or on Lent. "It's an experiment also for us to see how it goes, to see what level of impact it has," said Msgr. Paul Tighe, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. (latimes.com, 2/22/12)

Google Offers Free Websites to California Co’s.
Google has launched California Get Your Business Online, a program that offers small businesses in the Golden State the opportunity to get a free customizable website, as well as access to in-person training on how to build a successful online business. Google will spring for the domain name and provide free Web hosting for the first year, then businesses will pay $2 monthly for the domain name and $4.99 monthly for Web hosting. Google has already rolled out similar programs in other states, including North Carolina, Michigan, and Georgia, but said California is by far the biggest market to have access to the program. According to Google, 97% of Americans turn to the Web for local products and services, but only 38% of small businesses in California are online. (latimes.com, 3/1/12)

FCC Seeks Guidance on Cellphone Service
The FCC is reviewing whether or when the police and other government officials can intentionally interrupt cellphone and Internet service to protect public safety, requesting public comment on the issue, which came to widespread attention last August, when Bay Area Rapid Transit in San Francisco shut off cellphone service for three hours in some stations - without notice to the FCC or the California Public Utilities Commission. The interruption was in anticipation of protests in BART stations in response to the fatal shooting of a man in July by a BART police officer. Among the issues on which the FCC is seeking comment is whether it even has legal authority over shutdowns of wireless service and whether it can pre-empt local, state, or federal laws that prohibit or constrain the ability of anyone to interrupt service. About 70% of all 911 calls now originate from wireless phones, the FCC said. It asked for comment from the public and from wireless phone companies on whether the cellphone companies could carry out a general service interruption while ensuring that the public could still make wireless 911 calls. Comments will be accepted at the FCC through April 30. (nytimes.com, 3/2/12)

California Leads in Renewable Energy Allure
A new study from Ernst & Young finds that the State of California led the nation in terms of its attractiveness to renewable energy investments in 2011. According to the report, which ranked U.S. states for investments in wind, solar, and geothermal energy, California led the nation in energy projects. Its favorable regulatory environment and incentives ranked it first in wind energy, while installation of solar energy projects pushed the state to first in solar. (socaltech.com, 2/28/12)