Blogs » Intel® AppUp Developer Program

How Blizzard saved approximately $44 million on Diablo 3

Matt Ployhar (Intel) — Fri, 25 May 2012 22:49:19 +0000

So I’ll caveat this up front by saying that there might be a little voodoo math going on here; however, be that as it may it’s still good food for thought.

In short: Diablo 3, as of today (5/25/2012) has now hit 6.3 million in sales. Quite impressive! Huge congratulations going out to all my friends at Blizzard! That’s an amazing milestone; and even better, it’s always nice to surpass expectations. Article here.

So this got me to thinking. IF this game had shipped on just (1) of the Consoles; how much revenue in royalties would they have normally had to cough up to: Microsoft, Sony, or Nintendo? (For the ostensible privilege of being on that platform?) Well… if rumors are true.. and believe me, I’ve heard a ton of them…. Royalty rates are typically between $7-10/unit. So.. let’s go on the low side of the scale. 6.3 million units at $7 ea = $44,100,000 (US) dollars!!! That’s a ton of money no matter how it’s sliced/diced.

In short: I think the savings that can be had by shipping on the PC, and not paying that royalty are spot on. It’s hard to argue with their track record. Those kinds of savings, if managed properly and keeping the quality of the product high, and by being able to hit a much broader global market continue to provide them a very strong recipe for success. Again.. congratulations Blizzard!

Thx for following everyone! Hope you all have a great Memorial Day Weekend!
Matt
PS: If anyone does have more clarity on those royalty rates I'd love to hear them!

Beim Japaner mit einem japanischen Ultrabook

Monika Lischke — Fri, 25 May 2012 12:40:33 +0000

Living the good life mit meinem Ultrabook, so sehe ich heute bei der Arbeit aus:

Zuerst war ich zum Mittagslunch beim Japaner, wir wollten eigentlich ins Mitani, die allerdings wegen Urlaub geschlossen hatten (fast 3 Wochen, hat mich persönlich sehr überrascht - ungewöhnlich, in Japan selbst würde das nicht passieren). Also spontan umdisponiert und stattdessen ins Tenno im Münchner Gärtnerviertel gefahren. War auch okay, dann bin ich endlich wieder in den Genuss meiner heissgeliebten Tenpura (frittiertes Zeugs) gekommen:

Bin kein während des Essens-Schreiberling, es reicht vieler meiner Freunden/Bekannten schon, dass ich ständig fotografiere, daher habe ich es auf den Nachtisch verschoben und zwar im Obori - eigentlich einer französischen Bäckerei mit einigen kleinen Tischen, welches allerdings von einer Japanerin betrieben wird. Netterweise gibt es auch draussen einen kleinen Tisch (siehe erstes Bild) und habe dann mit einem Mousse au Chocolat Törtchen mein Mittagessen abgeschlossen.
Zu meiner Schande muss ich gestehen, dass ich bisher noch nie Tethering genutzt habe und war doch tatsächlich überrascht, wie einfach und problemlos das funktioniert hat. Dann noch per Bluetooth die beiden Bilder rübergezogen und fertig war dieser Post!

Ach ja, natürlich musste ich zu beiden Lokalitäten mein japanisches Ultrabook mitnehmen - gibt es eigentlich ein taiwanesisches Restaurant in München...?

Game Trailers Bring the Game to Your Audience

Kevin Murphy — Thu, 24 May 2012 22:32:59 +0000

The video game industry is expected to reach $82 billion in sales by 2015. To take a piece of the billion-dollar pie, your video game needs to get users interested and excited. How do you do that? Gamers are visual people, so a great way to get them excited about your game is a video game trailer.

With today’s technology, you don’t need millions of dollars or professional equipment to get thousands of fans. Here’s how to get started on creating an exciting game trailer with a few inexpensive tools:

Tell Your Story
Whether it’s an action-packed 3D thriller or a 2D game like Angry Birds, there is always a story to tell. People connect with stories, and once they are invested in the story they will keep coming back for more.

Most video game trailers show the setup, the scene, and the situation with audio voiceover to generate extra excitement and suspense.

To start developing the story, you need to get organized:

Create a storyboard or a draft of all the different cuts and shots you will use. When choosing your shots, think about the pace you want your video to run. If it’s a fast-paced game, use many short clips and different angles to keep the rapid pace and general feeling.
Write a script and include voiceover, audio, and a brief description of the scene. Unlike the storyboard, more is not necessarily merrier with the script. Keep your sentences short and to the point. Your audience will have a hard time remembering long sentences while taking in all of your visuals. Try to stay away from conjunctions.
Begin thinking about audio. Audio includes the type of voice, ambient sounds, and music included in the video. They should all match the feeling that you want to demonstrate to your audience.

What to Shoot

When deciding what to shoot, remember these three things:

Establishing shots: When you want to set the scene, use an establishing shot. Establishing shots are distance shots that show the entire area of your scene. It establishes the location in which your story takes place.
Medium shots are used to establish and show dialogs of characters.
Close-ups are just that – close. Filming close on a character or object creates drama and feeds the emotion of the video. There should be at least 10 close-up shots for every one establishing shot.

Now that you know what the shots are, you need to know what kind of footage to capture. Answer these three questions to decide which footage to use:

Which footage sets the scene?
What footage visually shows the situation?
What footage is the most engaging?

Take all of those shots, include their relative close-ups and there you have it.

Equipment

You picked your shots, organized a storyboard, wrote a script, and now it’s time to shoot. Unlike traditional video shoots, you’re filming a program, so the equipment is much different.

Here are several different options to shooting video from your computer.

Fraps: Fraps is a PC-specific Windows application that can record up to 2560x1600 and 120 frames per second (perfect for slow-motion editing).
Dazzle: Dazzle is a Pinnacle product that can capture video from camcorders, digital cameras, phones, DVDs, and gaming consoles. This is an inexpensive choice for recording video on game consoles.
Hauppauge HD PVR Gaming Edition: More expensive than Dazzle, the Hauppauge HD PVR Gaming Edition recorder captures full 1080i resolution and is much more robust than Dazzle. The HD PVR has low latency and can record straight to your computer during game play.

Share

The whole point of making a game trailer is to share it with the world and generate interest. Hosting your video on the 2nd largest search engine, YouTube, is the best way to get eyes on your video. Along with your YouTube video, include a title, keywords, and a brief description that introduces the game--focusing on what makes your game special.

Linking your video to your other websites, forums, and social media channels will increase your searchability and keep your viewers connected to all channels.

Thanks to your social media strategy with YouTube and your professional-quality video, your game is in a better position to gain the interest it deserves.

Monetizing Ultrabook Apps with QR codes and HTML5

Bob Duffy (Intel) — Wed, 23 May 2012 23:58:37 +0000

In this presentation, from the HTML5 Developer Conference in San Francisco, Intel Engineer Daniel Holmlund explains the value of using QR codes to connect people and devices and how you can do this with HTML5. And to keep it "real" he starts the presentation by showing his agenda in QR code format and also pointing the audience to resources to get a QR code reader should their smart phones not already be well equiped ;-).

Also before we get into things Daniel explains why Intel is supporting HTML5, saying Intel believes in developing great communities, and we support HTML5 for developing first class apps for PC and Intel devices and of course Ultrabooks and the Intel AppUp center are great resources for distributing and monetizing HTML5 apps. I think that is the only commercial of the presentation but nice he is providing all the links to these things via QR code.

In his first example Daniel points to MyToys.de as a site and brand that made good use of QR codes for monetization. They apparently build a HUGE lego based QR Code and put it on billboard. The QR code directed people to the website and it generated 49% increase in sales. Sounds impressive

What is a QR Code

The QR code has its history with Toyota who found bar codes were difficult to line up when scanning boxes of inventory. QR code is patented by Denso but put in the public domain so anybody can use it.

QR codes can hold a lot of information, and link people to many things. They are easily scanned lending themselves to easy use, especially with people carrying smartphones and other smart devices. QR codes can deliver people to websites, videos, maps, etc as well as nearly any digitally distributable content can be made accessible via a QR code. QR codes are good for advertising because like the Internet they allow information to quickly be transferred between people and devices.

Using QR Codes

One challenge is not everybody knows how to use QR codes, so some education is required for effective marketing. Creative Marketing is one way to break thru. Starbucks and Lady Gaga did a campaign, where Gaga fans collected codes, then were able to get a song for free by collecting all the codes. Tesco supermarket put up a billboard along a popular subway line. In the billboard was a photo of food and a QR code, when if used could purchase the food with delivery to your home. This is a great example of the power of QR codes to extend reach, as in this case providing grocery services to people travelling on the subway.

Help Japan Now was a great example of a QR code to help relief efforts. Other altruistic or charitable uses include Chili's putting QR codes on Children's coloring mats. Parents could then donate to St Jude’s from the mats. This raised 5 million dollars

Additionally Facebook is integrating QR codes, as with other social media services, and in-app solutions are being made like AppUp to help monetize software. QR codes are also quickly becoming part of the Geek Culture and is driving interaction and choices

Tech behind QR Codes
Scanable codes have been around for a while evolving along the way from the first bar codes that IBM invented UPC code that could allow for 13 digits of information to QR codes that allow for 7,000 digits
Code 16 & 49 versions took the1 dimensional stacking two dimensions but had issues with alignment of the code for scanning. QR codes are 2 dimensional and allow for scanning at various angles
QR codes can be customize the code for the amount of data from 21 x 21 modules up to 177x177 modules

Error correction is built into QR codes allowing for low -medium - high correction where from 7% to 30% of the code can be missing and reconstructed depending on what level of error correction you use.

QR codes have a structure where various areas of the code are applied for specific functions like alignment and error correction.

QR Code Structure

The Finder Pattern is one of the most recognizable aspects of a QR code. These are the squares in three corners (upper left, upper right and bottom left corners). Regardless of angle being scanned it’s a recognizable patter to determine the angle and alignment of QR code. This allows for faster scanning and reading of the code.

Another easily identifiable structure is the QR Code Alignment Pattern. This is a block that at the bottom right used at relative distances to help determine if a code has been distorted.

Additional structures of a QR code include:
Timing patters, Format Data, Error correction, Version Data, as well as the Mandatory white space that helps define the code as a QR code

Coding for QR Codes
There are many existing libraries available to help you create a QR code from scratch but it’s tedious. Fortunately you can use Jquery to build your own QR code
The following images show you resources for building your own QR codes as well as a Jquery example (click to enlarge).

Try your code with the HTML5 Playground then share with your friends. For more resources go to the Ultrabook Community to get tools, SDK, and documentation as well as access to AppUp Encapsulator to package your app as a Windows Binary for distribution to PC via App stores like AppUp

Well I guess one more commercial before the end. In all a great session and insight into QR codes. If you have any questions on this presentation, ask them here and well get Daniel to respond.

Translation and Localization, Too Overcomplicated?!

Nabil Freij — Tue, 22 May 2012 17:14:45 +0000

Not all translation service buyers have the same needs. Requirements differ depending on where companies are in their global evolution. With varying needs and priorities, and a massive selection of translation service providers estimated to exceed 20,000 independent vendors worldwide and growing, how do you decide who to choose?

Some companies elect to come up with elaborate RFPs. These RFPs frequently contain exhaustive details to help differentiate between, and narrow down, suitable vendors. But often these RFPs are very time consuming to create, respond to and analyze, potentially overcomplicating the process.

The mere fact that the translation service industry is so fragmented fashions the need to overcomplicate matters. After all, companies want to create differentiators to claim a competitive edge. But don’t let these illusions distract you.

Reality is translation and localization services, while requiring specialized expertise and much attention to detail, do not have to be sold in an over-convoluted way. If you are a translation and localization service buyer, here are the two basic factors to consider while making your logical selection.

Is quality of translation important to you? If so, hire a translation service company that relies on qualified professional translators, project managers and localization experts that are complemented by technology to facilitate the creation, execution and maintenance of translation assets, such as terminology, translation memory and knowledge bases. Avoid suppliers that push technology before professionals, like you avoid the plague!

Is price a major factor? If so, use a membership-free cloud-based translation service that enables you to initiate, approve, oversee and get translated files when you need them. By processing your projects in a trusted cloud-based portal, you get quality translators do work for you at a fraction of the cost of what a full language service provider will charge.

Companies eying to become serious contenders have to think and act global. But none need to translate their entire content, products or websites into an endless list of languages. When both quality and price are important, go with the vendor that can help you set priorities and then provide both. For instance, we helped companies create landing pages on their website and translate them into 13 languages. This allowed them to target 80% of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP) producers at a fraction of the cost of converting their entire websites. Instead of aiming for a grand portal, we helped them open a window to the world, professionally and effectively!

To further demystify artificial illusions and untangle unnecessary knots, read Enabling Globalization: A Guide to Using Localization to Penetrate International Markets.

About the Author

Nabil Freij is the author of Enabling Globalization and the president, founder, and owner of GlobalVision International, Inc. (www.globalvis.com), a Software Localization and Translation specialist. He is trilingual and holds an MSEE from Brown University and an MBA from Bryant University. Freij has worked for 25 years in the hardware, software, and localization industries. He has traveled the world and lived in five countries. He is frequently published and quoted. Nabil is married and has two children. He currently resides in Palmetto, FL. Mr. Freij can be reached at nabil@globalvis.com . You can read his blog at: http://blog.globalvis.com.

Eulen nach Athen tragen?

Monika Lischke — Tue, 22 May 2012 14:08:19 +0000
Hmmm, eigentlich nicht sehr zielführend, mit einem Ultrabook ins Büro zu gehen, aber für diesen Blogpost tue ich doch fast alles ;-).
Arbeite momentan mit zwei unterschiedlichen Geräten, ein Non-Ultrabook, welches ich im Büro lasse (ist einfach zu schwer) und das andere bleibt meistens daheim oder geht mit auf Geschäftsreise. Funktioniert fast immer, trotz des ungleichen Standes auf den beiden Rechnern - Outlook habe ich mit Regeln und lokalen pst Dateien so eingerichtet, dass beide immer auf dem aktuellsten Stand sind. Und da ich so gut immer online bin und viel im Netz rumtreibe, geht das auch gut.
So sieht´s dann aus, wenn mein Toshiba auf meinem Schreibtisch steht (übrigens individuell höhenverstellbar, könnte theoretisch auch im Stehen arbeiten, was ich allerdings nie tue...):

Ach ja, hinten sieht man, dass ich die WebCam überklebt habe, sollte ich auch mal bei dem Ultrabook machen - will einfach Überraschungen vermeiden und es muss nun nicht wirklich sein, dass mich Kollegen eventuell im uralten T-Shirt im Home Office erwischen ;-)
Zum Verfassen dieses Blogposts habe ich den Rechner allerdings vor die Tastatur des anderen gestellt und schon fing der Wirrwarr bei mir an:

Warum tut sich denn nichts auf dem Monitor, wenn ich das Touchpad benutze? Warum bleibt der Cursor auf dem Ultrabook statisch, wenn ich die Maus bewege?
Jaja, schon latent peinlich, aber ist tatsächlich passiert, war doch am Anfang etwas verwirrend für mich - vielleicht lags auch an der Klimaanlage die den ganzen lieben Tag kalte Luft auf meinen Kopf pustet....
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Unterwegs mit meinem Ultrabook

Monika Lischke — Fri, 18 May 2012 08:59:35 +0000
Hatte ja bereits angekündigt, dass ich mit einem meiner Ultrabooks (Asus Zenbook & Toshiba Portege) durch München düsen werde und Euch daran teilhaben lasse.
So, heute ist der erste Teil der Serie und unoriginellerweise fange ich mal zuhause an - working from home wie es bei Intel heisst; bei Microsoft hiess das ganz simpel Home Office.Nachdem ich leider nicht den Luxus eines separaten Arbeitszimmers besitze, muss mein wunderbarer kleiner 50er Jahre Tisch herhalten, ein Ultrabook hat darauf allerdings prima Platz.

Zugegebenermaßen bearbeite ich daheim eher selten riesige Excel Sheets, sondern konzentriere mich auf den Social Kram, PowerPoint und natürlich emails und dafür brauche ich dann auch kein grosses externes Display. Theoretisch und praktisch könnte ich mit dem Toshiba Ultrabook auch WiDi nutzen, kommt für mich aber nicht in Frage, da ich zuhause keinen Monitor besitze.
Mittags habe ich dann das Ultrabook eingepackt - gefühlt ist meine Tasche schwerer als das Gerät - und dann raus zu meinen Eltern ins ländliche München, Spargelessen :-)

Google+ for Business: Hype or Helpful?

Wendy Thomas — Thu, 17 May 2012 21:38:35 +0000

With so many social media options out there, and with more on the horizon every day, it’s a challenge to know whether your business can benefit from any of them or not. Right?

Google+ is one of the new guys, and there are mixed reviews so far. If you’re already using Twitter and Facebook and getting good results, then you might not want or need another avenue right now. If you’re new to social network platforms and still working on goals for what you want to accomplish, Google+ should be thrown into the mix.

Google+ ties several Google products that serve businesses together. One point especially worth noting is that with Google being a top search engine in the world, public posts made on Google+ automatically rank higher than any others in a Google search. What’s not to like about that?

There are 4 types of posts to create in Google+:

1. Link posts – offer a link to something interesting, perhaps your latest company blog post
2. Photo posts – pull customers in with a visual that relates to the topic you are writing about
3. Video posts – point to a relevant YouTube video or upload one directly
4. Location posts – tell people where you are writing from when you’re at a conference, convention, or somewhere you might want people to visit

Like all networks, sharing information from others goes a long way. Google+ has a “share” button on every post that makes sharing as easy as ever.

Google+ makes having conversations easy, too. Readers can comment on any of your posts and before you know it, you have a lot of dialogue going. You might want to take the conversation into a Google+ hangout where you, or someone from your group, can interact through live video with the people who want to talk to you.

• Michael Dell - you may recognize the name of the man who is CEO and chairman of Dell - is quite active on Google+ with posts, shares, and using hangouts to reach his customers. There is also a Dell company page that has a lot of customer interaction and invitations to events offered through the hangout.

• World-leading business software provider, SAP, has a company page managed by its social media team. The company uses video links to share company insights with its readers and even offers live streaming of conferences and events it hosts.

• San Francisco-based cloud computing company Salesforce.com is on Google+ offering social media tips through commentary, video replays, and live video streams.

Google+ is free, useful, and quick on searches. It is full of people who want to have conversations and is an excellent way to get a higher Google ranking, which is always great for attracting new business.

Get started by creating a profile and doing searches on your competitors. See who is out there and who isn’t. Check out companies and people in non-competitive fields. Spending a little bit of time investigating can help you decide whether jumping into this social media outlet will bring you more business or not.

Effective B2B Lead Generation Doesn't Sell Your Product

Kevin Murphy — Wed, 16 May 2012 18:11:51 +0000

This is a guest post by Susan Fantle. Susan Fantle is a 25+ year veteran marketing copywriter and consultant specializing in online and offline business-to-business marketing. Her firm, The Copy Works, serves clients nationwide. You can read more of Susan's wisdom on her blog B2BMarketingSmarts.com.

In the world of B2B marketing, there are three kinds of prospects:

1. Those in the last stage of the buy cycle and in the process of evaluating solutions.

2. Individuals with a pain or a problem that's big enough to take action to solve, but who are beginning to look around for information on possible solutions.

3. People just beginning to realize there's a problem, but the pain is not yet big enough to take action to solve.

When your company develops a product, its purpose is to provide a solution to a known problem. The thinking is, "Companies have this problem, so we'll create a solution that they'll jump on." It is logical, from that point of view, to focus all your marketing on selling the product.

Unfortunately, the only prospects this approach attracts are those that fall into category #1 -- completely missing those who are beginning their research or are just beginning to see a pain point. To generate the maximum number of leads in marketing efforts -- to build a long-term pipeline of potential buyers -- B2B marketing must reach all three groups.

To do this, offer valuable information that is relevant to your prospects' industry or job reaches. This content is a tried-and-true B2B marketing technique that should never fail if done correctly.

Many B2B marketers offer white papers/briefings, how-to guides, checklists, case studies, videos, podcasts, published books, Webinars, or a combination of these items to lure potential leads. This information is offered free and without any obligation other than a brief registration that tells you who responded.

Many B2B marketers advocate giving content away without registration. I agree that this approach does an even better job of positioning your company as a helpful, professional resource. If you don't know who responded, however, you haven't generated an actionable lead or grown your pipeline. You must offer some content that requires registration or it's not true lead generation.

Using content to generate leads, then nurturing those leads through the buying process, is a proven marketing approach. Here are a few guidelines to follow when writing content for lead generation.

1. Keep communications short and to the point.

2. Make it clear, quick and easy for prospects to act on what is being offered.

3. Speak to prospects in the first person and communicate the benefits they will gain from acting on the offer of informational content.

4. Be sure to offer information that has real value to your target market.

5. Communicate differently to different titles. Goals and problems vary from title to title. Communications should be versioned to address those differences.

6. Make contact often enough to keep your company/solution top-of-mind as your prospect moves through every stage of the buy cycle.

7. Give the prospect a clear 'next action' in every communication.

The content you use in your lead generation program doesn't sell your product. It gets interested, qualified parties to raise their hand and say, "I have the problem your content discusses and am willing and interested to learn about ways to solve it."

Intel Announces New Software and Services Investments in Brazil

Lauren Dankiewicz (Intel) — Tue, 15 May 2012 04:40:00 +0000

Investing in Brazil's Software Ecosystem
Intel is accelerating the growth of Brazil’s software industry by making strategic investments in independent software vendors, developers, universities, technology parks, and government IT agencies.

Today at Intel Developer Forum (IDF) in Brazil, Intel announced that the Intel® Software Partner Program and four Intel® Software Network developer communities are launching in Portuguese. The Intel Software Network provides hundreds of technical documents and guidance on how to maximize software performance on Intel® architecture. The Intel® Software Partner Program helps companies develop and market commercial applications optimized for Intel® technologies.

Each community has a local community manager who will work with developers across the country to help build best-in-class solutions and end-user experiences.

George Silva: Community manager for Ultrabook™, Consumer Client, and Android* Developer Communities

Jomar Silva: Intel® vPro™ Developer Community

Luciano Palma: Server Community and Parallel Programming Developer Community

Opportunities for Brazilian Software Companies to Partner with Intel
The Intel Software Partner Program will provide local marketing and sales support to drive campaigns with Brazil’s 300,000+ independent software vendors and 73,000+ software and services companies. Launching the program in Portuguese is an important step to connecting with Brazilian software companies for these new campaigns.

Future Investments in Brazil
Intel’s software programs are focused on building strong businesses through best-of-class products. In 2012, Intel will grow its in-country foot print as well as its corporate support teams to drive programs with universities and technology parks.

Join us at the HTML5 Conference May 21st for Ultrabook fun!

Bob Duffy (Intel) — Mon, 14 May 2012 22:30:58 +0000

We're excited to be part of this years HTML5 Conference in San Francisco. Although its only one day we want to make the best of it.

So come meet and hang with the Intel team you just might walk away with a shiny new Ultrabook ;-)

Come by the Intel table from 9-5pm:
Test drive an Ultrabook, check out our HTML5 tools for packaging and monetizing apps via AppUp, learn more about our developer program and enter our drawing for an brand new Ultrabook.

Attend our HTML5 Session: Using QR Codes and HTML5 on Ultrabooks™
Room & Time TBD
This session is a technical introduction to QR codes and how you can use them in your HTML5 applications. We'll also demonstrate several tools that Intel is creating to enable HTML5 developers to rapidly build and sell applications thru the Intel® AppUpSM center. Then Adam Chromicz from hotstudio.com will talk about how they moved StoryPlay, a graphically intense HTML5 application, to the Ultrabook™.

Connect with us at the Casual Mixer @ 5pm
Our technical engineers and community managers will be hanging out during the cocktail mixer and want to learn more about your apps and how you would like to see our program support HTML5.

For more information on this event, check out the official event site: http://html5devconf.com. Also learn more about developing apps for Ultrabooks from our Ultrabook Community.

See ya there :-)

Meine Ultrabooks, meine Wenigkeit und München

Monika Lischke — Mon, 14 May 2012 08:43:24 +0000

Muss ja zugeben, dass ich schon so manches mal etwas (aber wirklich nur etwas) neidisch bin, wenn Blogger von uns ein Ultrabook gestellt bekommen. Entweder sind das Tech-Blogger, die irgendwelche Benchmarks laufen lassen und auf Hardware Spezifikationen eingehen oder Blogger aus anderen Bereichen (Fashion, Mommy Blogger etc.), die sich dann tendenziell eher mit Faktoren wie Design, Mobilität und ähnlichem beschäftigen.
Tja, und dieses Wochenende dachte ich mir, na das kann ich auch – bin ja auch im Besitz von gleich zwei Ultrabooks (Toshiba nutze ich beruflich und das Asus privat). Was das heisst?
Werde nun in unregelmässigen Abständen mit einem meiner Ultrabooks (oder sogar mit beiden) in München umherdüsen und Euch davon berichten!

Intel Developer Forum is coming to São Paulo, Brazil!

Lauren Dankiewicz (Intel) — Fri, 11 May 2012 20:18:16 +0000

Intel Developer Forum (IDF) is coming to Brazil for the first time in Intel history!

We're partnering with members of the Intel® Software Partner Program in our booth and sessions, and we're extremely excited to meet other software developers and ISVs in Brazil. If you’re not attending in person, we’ll make sure to keep you updated on the announcements and excitement online in both Portuguese and English. Check out of our upcoming software sessions below and the full IDF Brazil website for full event details.

Next week, we’ll meet the Intel Software team in Brazil, share some exciting news from IDF, and announce some new opportunities for developers to partner with Intel!

Pre-IDF Activity on May 14:

Gaming roundtable: Intel representatives, CEOs, Software developers, Game Associations, professors and investors will meet to discuss the game industry in Brazil

Intel Software Booth Demos:

Totvs* & Pixeon* - Success Stories, Intel® Software Partner Program
Totvs is a leader in emerging markets, one of the largest ISVs in Latin America, and the world's 6th largest ERP developer. Totvs offers a wide variety of vertical solutions for virtually all sizes of companies, allowing growth in different market segments. In the booth, Totvs will showcase how they benefited from partnering with the Intel® Software Partner Program and Intel® Software Network.

Pixeon, a Brazilian ISV of approximately 50 people, was founded in 2003 and specializes in digital medical imaging. Its solutions provide high quality imaging for diagnosis and speed to generate medical reports (“laudos”), as well as technologies that allow visualization and analysis through the internet using mobile devices. Pixeon joined the Intel Software Partner Program in early 2012. Through the Intel Software Partner Program, Pixeon has made performance improvements that impact user experience and making it better and more productive. Pixeon continues to work with Intel development tools to improve their software and incorporating new technologies into their products.

McAfee®: Complete Cross-Device Protection
McAfee offers extensive protection for all your devices to safeguard you wherever you connect. This comprehensive protection is always on, protecting every facet of your digital life. It delivers a worry free online experience from the latest malware protection to keeping your kids away from inappropriate content. Incorporated in McAfee's consumer portfolio is McAfee Mobile Security that will locate, lock, or wipe a lost or stolen device.

Improve Cloud Efficiency and Manageability with Intel® Intelligent Power Node Manager
Power takes a large part in Cloud Operation TCO. This demo will show how to take advantage of the Intel® Intelligent Power Node Manager to monitor and control the power cost of your cloud in an intelligent way. In the Cloud System, power and thermal information is retrieved from host servers through Intel® Intelligent Power Node Manager. Based on predefined policy, the Cloud System makes use of the power information both for resource monitoring and power control, as well as intelligent VM scheduling and life-cycle management. The demo also shows the application of this technology in top cloud vendors.

Intel AppUp(SM) Developer Program
Get the most out of your PC and Ultrabook™ with apps and digital content from the Intel AppUp(SM) center. Discover how to create apps with the free resources found in the Intel AppUp(SM) Developer Program.

Intel® Software Network - Developing optimized Windows applications for Intel Platforms
Learn about performance analysis and how to improve your overall user experience on PC systems. Tutorials and sessions will be given throughout the day. Both Intel and Microsoft* tools will be showcased.

Using the Yocto Project* Open Source Hob GUI for Embedded Linux OS Image Creation
See the Hob graphical user interface in action as it’s used to create a personal NAS device on an Intel® Atom™ based platform. Hob is an efficient customization tool which provides several well defined processes to efficiently assist users with varied experience levels to quickly create a Linux OS image using the Yocto Project. This tool will allow those with limited Linux skills to easily generate a target board image, while providing more depth to hackers and experienced Linux users.

Android* Ice Cream Sandwich Demo Running On An Intel® Z2460™
This is an Android* Ice Cream Sandwich demo running on an Intel® Z2460™ processor. This demo shows the value added software optimizations done by the Software and Services Group at Intel to improve Dalvik* execution by orders of magnitude, smooth 1080P video playback, best-in-class HTML5, and power optimizations that take advantage of the silicon to provide fast, responsive, all day performance.

Creating Robust, Scalable, High Performance Software with Intel® Parallel Studio XE
Intel® Parallel Studio XE Unites Development Tools for Improving Application Performance and Code Robustness For the Latest Generation of Multicore Processors via these Industry-Leading Components: Intel® Parallel Advisor – Threading assistant tool which provides step-by-step proposals for simplifying the transition from serial applications to parallel ones Intel® Composer XE – Optimizing compilers and high-performance libraries for the latest generation of processors Intel® Inspector XE – Powerful thread and memory error checker Intel® VTune™ Amplifier XE – Advanced performance profiler with hotspot and threading analysis

IDF Software Sessions on May 15:

Rethinking Information Security
Jose Antunes
Bruno Domingues
The security paradigm is changing, just in the last decade the cybercrime growth in a two digits rate year by year. The main reason is the cybercrime motivation, profit, stole of intellectual property and hacktivism. Today, Intel and McAfee, combine software and hardware capability to combat IT security threats, allowing consumers and organizations take full advantage of connected computing experience in a secure way.

Intel Business Client Solutions: Intel® vPro™ Technology and Intel® Small Business Advantage
Marcio Paulino
Edison Rodrigues
This session will delve into the powerful new 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ vPro™ processor family and the innovations we are delivering for business customers to “compute with confidence” via enhanced security, simplification/automation, and solutions. This session will illustrate how key stakeholders including end users, SI/ITO’s and Channel MSP’s implement solutions based on Intel vPro technology and unlock the full value of the platform. Additionally, this session explores strategies and tactics for winning with the brand new Intel® Small Business Advantage (Intel® SBA) platform in 2012. Intel SBA is a purpose built platform that delivers out-of-the box value to enhance security and productivity and is targeted for the fast growing commercial segment of small businesses that lack a formal IT department.

Develop Optimized Microsoft* Windows* 7 or Windows 8 Applications on Intel® Platforms
Miguel Ferreira
Luciano Palma
Intel brings you the technology to deliver amazing experiences on Windows* running on a tablet, an Ultrabook™ or a desktop. This session will show how to optimize your current applications for the Windows* platform and how to get ready for building optimized Windows 8 applications with Intel® Software Tools and Technologies. Make your application even more attractive, with better performance, enhanced security and greater graphics experience.

Cross Platform Development with HTML5
Eugeni Dodonov
Jomar Silva
Developing cross-OS, cross-device applications has been a challenging problem for many years. HTML5 is the key and being an open standard, it is a great choice for interoperability. HTML5 comprises of a set of web standards that enable innovation on web apps, from rich user interfaces through advanced networking, multimedia resources. This session will introduce HTML5 and its new features and cover its role in the next generation of mobile and desktop based apps. Another topic is PhoneGap, an Open Source Software that allows you to author native mobile apps created with HTML5 web technologies using a single codebase and deliver apps for multiple mobile platforms. Included is a demonstration on how to create an HTML5 Applications using PhoneGap and, using PhoneGap Build Services, enable a remote compile and deployment to multiple platforms.

Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI): Foundation Technology for Next Generation Platforms
Luis Pollo
Fadi Zuhayri
Topics in this session include:
• UEFI technology overview
• Latest UEFI specifications news and industry adoption
• Microsoft* Windows* 8 UEFI requirements
• Intel® UEFI Development Kit 2010 SR1 features and capabilities for implementing UEFI 2.3.1 specifications
• UEFI Development and training resources

*Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.

Is Pinterest Useful to Software Businesses?

Wendy Thomas — Fri, 11 May 2012 18:01:56 +0000

By now, you've probably heard about Pinterest. It's an online “image” grabbing site that allows users to group images captured (pinned) from websites onto pages which can then be shared with others who have a similar interest. Think of it as online scrapbooking except that, this being the internet, you're able to follow the graphic image back to the original website.

Let's say that someone I follow has a page of “Hardware, You Gotta Have.” If I see a photo of a new Ultrabook™, I might be inclined to click on that photo to get more information from the original website. It is in those traffic clicks where lies the possible advantage of Pinterest to your company. Pinterest is yet another possible way to drive consumers to your website.

Source: intel.com via Intel on Pinterest

Quite frankly, the platform is so new that the jury is still out on whether or not Pinterest is helpful for generating leads. But this is what we know so far: people are flocking to Pinterest and creating all sorts of groups which are then attracting the attention of lots of other people. And when people are interested in something on the internet, that means there is an opportunity to get involved and to get your marketing message heard.

As an example of how a software company effectively uses Pinterest to engage its audience, take a look at Microsoft’s Pinterest page. Not only does this page highlight new apps, software, and some of the latest products and services, but if you look through the “pins,” you’ll also see links to things like “Foods that boost you immune system” and pictures of the Microsoft main campus. This diverse visual combination results in a page that both sells product and gives value to its audience by presenting “nice to know” information right alongside the important marketing information. It all works together in grabbing the potential customer’s attention.

For now, what should your company do about Pinterest?

Set up a page and let your presence be known
When you set up your Pinterest page, you'll be asked to invite others to follow you (usually from your email list) go ahead and invite everyone you think would be interested. Just the fact that you are willing to give Pinterest a try might be enough to get someone interested in your company.

Click here to sign up for Pinterest.
http://pinterest.com/landing/

Don't spend a lot of time on it
I know, I know, it sounds a little counter-intuitive but Pinterest is new and still has some problems, most notably regarding image copyright. For now, set up your account. Do searches and follow those who have similar likes and interests, but resist the urge to spend huge amounts of time creating lots of groups. Like some other Social Media platforms, this could fizzle out fairly quickly. Have everything in place, though, in case it doesn't.

Have outstanding graphics on your site that someone might be inclined to pin
People can't pin your image if there is no image to pin. Not only should you have an outstanding graphic on your landing page but you should put a little “Pin this” tag near the graphic to remind people to pin it. The more people who grab the image, the more people are going to see it and possibly click back to your website.

Use Pinterest to check out who is pinning your site
Pinterest can be used for customer demographics. Do a few searches on your name and your images to see the types of people who may be pinning your company to their pages. Are they who you had hoped would grab the images? If not, do you need to rethink your image and perhaps use another one that might be more attractive to your desired demographic?

A quick way to search on Pinterest is to go to: www.pinterest.com/source/YOURWEBSITE

Find the people on Pinterest who are interested in your field and start following them
Like people share like things, and eventually learn to trust each other. If you follow the people who have an interest in your field, you will establish yourself as a member of that community and soon others in that community will start to follow you.

What have you heard about Pinterest? Do you see the use of collected images drawing traffic to your site? Have you seen good examples of Pinterest accounts highlighting software?

SEO Fundamentals: Where to Begin When Optimizing for Search Engines

Kevin Murphy — Thu, 10 May 2012 22:13:25 +0000

This is a guest post by Michael Fleischner. Michael Fleischner is an Internet marketing expert with more than 14 years of marketing experience. He has appeared on the TODAY Show, ABC World News, and Bloomberg Radio. Michael is the author of today's top-selling SEO book on Amazon.com, "SEO Made Simple." Michael's marketing blog is one of the most visited marketing blogs on the Web at marketing-expert.blogspot.com. To follow Michael, visit The Marketing Blog or connect via twitter @mfleischner.

Search engine optimization, commonly referred to as “SEO,” is the practice of making changes to your website, and improving your website’s authority, to influence your site’s ranking on major search engines like Google, Yahoo!, and Bing. When your website appears at the top of search engine result lists for a specific query, you generate targeted traffic to your website or blog.

The concept of search engine optimization can sometimes appear to be nothing short of complex and overwhelming—but it doesn’t have to be. Fundamental best practices associated with search engine optimization (SEO) are easily understood and can be applied regardless of technical knowledge or direct experience with optimizing websites, blogs, or digital assets.

Consider the following SEO fundamentals before starting any search engine optimization program:

1. Know your audience. Before you can optimize your website, you first need to have a good understanding of your target audience. Even though the concept of audience identification or segmentation may seem more akin to general marketing practices, it’s an essential step before starting any SEO campaign. This information is essential for planning your site architecture, URLs, and keyword selection. With a fundamental understanding of your audience, what they buy, and how they research products and services online, you have a much better opportunity to develop, organize, and position your site for relevant keywords and top search engine rankings.

2. Know yourself. What is your company’s unique selling proposition? When browsers see similar results after an initial search, organic listings related to your site should be unique and stand out from your list of competitors. By understanding how to position your company and products properly, you can develop a website to reflect these unique qualities.

3. Begin with the end in mind. Before building your site or updating it to meet the demands of today’s optimization standards, consider your audience, unique value proposition, and website goals. Some websites are designed to be informational, others serve as a place for customers to gain access to information, tools, and resources, and finally, some websites are designed for eCommerce. Regardless of how you choose to develop your site, think through the navigational process of website browsers, prospects, and future customers. The most important information should be easily accessible and organized to lead prospects down the path to purchase.

After you’ve thought through the fundamental aspects of your search engine optimization program, the next step is to begin the journey of website optimization. Although SEO does have a large number of factors to consider, the plan of attack should always begin by focusing on on-page optimization followed by off-page optimization.

On-page optimization is the process of organizing a website and developing it in a manner that allows search engines to easily access the site, find rich, original content that focuses around a particular subject (silos), and create a positive user experience that includes fast load times, ease of use, and social sharing.

Once a site has been built and meets the standard of on-page best practices, it’s time to turn your attention to off-page optimization. Keep in mind, however, that on-page optimization is never truly complete. Updates should be made regularly to reflect changes to the Google algorithm, and new, unique content should also be generated on a regular basis. This includes published content and user-generated content.

Off-page optimization is the practice of developing quality inbound links to your website, blog, and other digital assets. There are dozens of techniques for building quality inbound links, and you should always research and learn which techniques have the greatest impact on organic rankings. The goal of off-page optimization should be the long-term development of links that include keyword phrases you are trying to optimize for.

Search engine optimization is an essential part of any online business or offline business seeking to attract new customers. Consider how your target market gathers information and makes purchases. Once you understand their motivations and preference, it’s time to get serious about SEO.