Review: 6 business-class Chromebooks test their mettle

	Jolla sells 7,200 Sailfish OS tablets, promises to ship in the second quarter | Apple iOS 8.1.2 for iPhone, iPad addresses disappearing ringtones mystery
	Network World Cool Tools
	Review: 6 business-class Chromebooks test their mettle I've spent the last three weeks taking six business-oriented Chromebooks through their paces. I started out as a skeptical Windows-rules-them-all kind of guy: I've been using Windows since the early days, and I've rarely strayed from the ghosts of my Windows masters. By the end of my Chromebook experiment, however, my old biases were shaken.+ ALSO ON NETWORK WORLD Google Chromebook Buyer's Guide +There's a definite siren call to a light, fast, portable computer with a solid keyboard that isn't subject to the patching and malware malaise that has become part and parcel of Windows-dom. Every Chromebook runs precisely the same version of Chrome OS. It's updated constantly -- no Patch Tuesday (or Second, Third, or Fourth Tuesday, with occasional out-of-band fixes). There are no independent drivers to juggle. I, for one, find the absence of device drivers to be a godsend.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More WHITE PAPER: Riverbed Technology Data Center Transformation and Its Impact on the Branch Despite tighter budgets driven by the fragile economy, IT departments remain under intense pressure to deliver additional and higher-performance computing, network and application services worldwide. Learn more >> In this Issue Jolla sells 7,200 Sailfish OS tablets, promises to ship in the second quarter Apple iOS 8.1.2 for iPhone, iPad addresses disappearing ringtones mystery Mobile device makers unleash FIDO Best Apple iTunes apps of the year are brain trainer, number puzzler 2014: The year smartwatches died Top five tips for this year's tech Santa Amazon crowd pokes fun at $40,000 TV IDG Contributor Network: Bluetooth is about to connect straight to the Internet WHITE PAPER: PC Connection | Acer Acer Playbook: Proven Solutions for Professional Demands Whether your workforce requires high-tech mobility, powerful desktops to streamline efficiency, reliable technology available 24 x 7, or competent tools for viewing and projecting, you'll find your solution in Acer notebooks, desktops, servers, monitors, and projectors. Learn More Jolla sells 7,200 Sailfish OS tablets, promises to ship in the second quarter Finnish company Jolla is following through on a promise to add more features to its Linux-based Sailfish OS, with plans to offer more personalization and a feature called “Events” that will show messages, calendar events and other information on the screen at once.Since its inception in 2011, Jolla has bet on the Sailfish OS to differentiate it from the competition on smartphones and now tablets. Android and iOS may dominate the tablet space, but the success of a campaign by Jolla in which it sold 7,200 tablets on the Indiegogo crowdfunding site shows there is an appetite, albeit not very big, for products running other OSes.As part of that campaign, Jolla pledged to make improvements to Sailfish 2.0, which will be out in the second quarter of next year, along with the company’s new tablet. A key Sailfish feature aimed at differentiation has been a start page that shows all running apps in a single view, which will be continued in the new version.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More Apple iOS 8.1.2 for iPhone, iPad addresses disappearing ringtones mystery Bob Brown, Network World Apple on Tuesday released an iOS update (8.1.2) for the iPhone and iPad that includes unspecified bug fixes, aside from one that the company identified as possibly resulting in ringtones purchased from iTunes disappearing.If you have had issues with tones going poof!, Apple recommends heading here after updating to 8.1.2.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More WHITE PAPER: Riverbed Technology Riverbed Optimization System: Technical Overview The Riverbed Optimization System (RiOS™) powers Riverbed's unique line of SteelHead™ application acceleration appliances and Steelhead Mobile client software. RiOS is based on technologies that solve a range of problems affecting wide area networks (WANs) and application performance. View Now>> Mobile device makers unleash FIDO Vendors of mobile devices are lining up to implement an authentication scheme meant to make online transactions both simpler and more secure, known as the Fast Identity Online (FIDO) specification, which is being released today.Within a year there could be 20 to 30 vendors integrating FIDO in shipping products, says Michael Barrett, who heads up the FIDO Alliance, an industry group of more than 150 members that has written the specification.+ Also on Network World: Can the FIDO Alliance Help Obsolete User Name/Password Authentication? | Hackers leak top Sony executives' emails +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More Best Apple iTunes apps of the year are brain trainer, number puzzler Apple has named Elevate, a set of brain training games, and Threes!, an addictive numbers game, as its top 2014 app and game, respectively. Elevate Elevate Brain Training app Elevate is a free (with in-app purchases) brain training program from Elevate Labs that the app maker says was "designed in collaboration with experts in neuroscience and cognitive learning." The iPhone/iPad app is built to improve users' "focus, speaking skills, processing speed, memory, math skills and more." You need to use it at least 4 times a week to see real results, the software maker says.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More WHITE PAPER: Aberdeen Group 3 Insider Threats Executives Need to Watch For Aberdeen Group's Derek E. Brink discusses in this report the three types of insider threats that executives must watch out for, as well as five ways in which these threats are likely to occur, and how to react to them when they appear. Avoid costly security breaches with this valuable information. Learn More 2014: The year smartwatches died Something borderline amazing happened to me last weekend… a couple arrived at my house wearing matching smartwatches. I consider that amazing because these smartwatches were only the second and third I've ever seen on the wrists of real people in the wild. The first was at a tech conference over the summer, and that one turned out to be a freebie from the Google I/O conference. And I live in San Francisco, the de facto capital of the tech world.I’m actually very interested in buying and wearing a smartwatch, but I still haven’t found one that meets my relatively modest list of needs: The ability to tell the time without pushing a button Activity tracking Sleep tracking Ability to read alerts, message header, and texts Full-day battery life Compatibility with iOS and Android smartphones At least as stylish as a mid-level traditional watch, without announcing itself to people 30 feet away Like many people, I had high hopes for the Apple Watch, but the company’s fall announcement brought with it mixed reviews. And more to the point, unlike most Apple hardware announcements that are quickly followed by product availability, the actual product launch won’t happen until 2015.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More Top five tips for this year's tech Santa Perhaps, between this month’s tinselly advertisements, you’ve heard that this is the Season of Giving. While many people consider the name nothing more than an invitation to pass poinsettia’s between friends, some understand that it also means giving of your time and talents. For example, as a Macworld reader there’s every chance that you have technical knowledge to spare—some of which would be deeply appreciated by those family and friends you visit over the holidays. Might I suggest, in the spirit of sharing, that you lend a hand in the following five ways? + ALSO ON NETWORK WORLD 2014 Holiday Gift Guide: The other NSA also knows what you want +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More Amazon crowd pokes fun at $40,000 TV They don’t seem to appreciate the fact that it’s been marked down from $45,000.Or that this is nowhere near the most expensive television available via Amazon. No sir, the some 2,000 customer reviewers offering opinions about the (deep breath) Samsung UN85S9 Framed 85-Inch 4K Ultra HD 120Hz 3D Smart LED TV (above), are simply flummoxed by the notion of anyone dropping 40 large on an appliance that these days has more or less become a commodity. The reviews have been piling up for a solid year now. Here are the top two:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More IDG Contributor Network: Bluetooth is about to connect straight to the Internet We've all fiddled around with that crazy Bluetooth pairing nonsense, which is often hit-and-miss as to whether pairing will happen at all. And what’s with the “0000” passwords? A little insecure, no?It’s been a messy, vague interaction at best.Well, times might be changing, because the Bluetooth Special Interest Group, or SIG, appears to be taking the short-range, low-power wireless protocol to another level—and just in time for IoT, or Internet of Things, too.The Bluetooth SIG has officially adopted version 4.2 of the Bluetooth core specification, which enables a direct connection to the internet, among other things.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here Read More
	SLIDESHOWS Cisco's top 10 innovations over the years A look back at Cisco's most innovative moves in its 30 years in the industry. JOIN THE NETWORK WORLD COMMUNITIES As network pros you understand that the value of connections increase as the number of connections increase, the so called network effect, and no where is this more evident than in professional relationships. Join Network World's LinkedIn and Facebook communities to share ideas, post questions, see what your peers are working on and scout out job applicants (or maybe find your next opportunity). Network World on Facebook Network World on LinkedIn MOST-READ STORIES 1. Google employees say it's the best big company to work for 2. The POODLE flaw returns, this time hitting TLS security protocol 3. What happens next in the Cisco suit against Arista 4. Patch Tuesday Dec 2014: 7 fixes, 3 critical patches for Windows, IE and Office 5. Apple iOS 8.1.2 for iPhone, iPad addresses disappearing ringtones mystery 6. Comcast sued for launching public Wi-Fi hotspot 7. 11 technologies Apple has killed 8. Microsoft tells Windows 10 users to uninstall Office 9. Microsoft sues AT&T customer for activating pirated copies of Windows 7 & Office 2010 10. Arista fires back at Cisco's suits
	Do You Tweet? Follow everything from NetworkWorld.com on Twitter @NetworkWorld. You are currently subscribed to networkworld_cool_tools_alert as security.world@gmail.com. Unsubscribe from this newsletter | Manage your subscriptions | Subscribe | Privacy Policy When accessing content promoted in this email, you are providing consent for your information to be shared with the sponsors of the content. Please see our Privacy Policy for more information. If you are interested in advertising in this newsletter, please contact: bglynn@cxo.com To contact Network World, please send an e-mail to customer_service@nww.com. Copyright (C) 2014 Network World, 492 Old Connecticut Path, Framingham MA 01701 ** Please do not reply to this message. If you want to contact someone directly, send an e-mail to customer_service@nww.com. **