* According to a new report from comScore, Amazon’s (AMZN) Kindle Fire now accounts for nearly 54% of all Android tablets in the U.S. Also: Amazon blew away estimates with its latest quarterly earnings: $13.2 billion in revenues and $130 million in net income. (Electronista and CNNMoney)

* Zynga (ZNGA) topped estimates with its latest earnings, too. The popular social gaming company announced sales of $329 million and a net loss of $85 million. Stock compensation costs aside however, Zynga also reported a profit of 6 cents per share. (CNNMoney) 

* Federal regulators hired Beth A. Wilkinson, the former prosecutor who led the conviction against Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, to spearhead its antitrust inquiry into Google (GOOG). (The New York Times)

* Samsung has surpassed Nokia as the number one cell phone vendor, ending the latter company’s 14-year streak. (Bloomberg)

* Evernote CEO Phil Libin revealed his cloud-based note-syncing start-up now is approaching 30 million users. That’s nearly double the users the company had when Fortune profiled the company last October. (The Next Web and Fortune)

“Apple will decline in the post Steve Jobs era,” wrote George Colony, CEO of Forrester Research. “Here’s why.”

The iPhone and iPad maker will coast for two to four years on its current momentum, Colony said; but Jobs, who died in October, left a void because his successor, Apple CEO Tim Cook, doesn’t possess his star power.

“[W]ithout the arrival of a new charismatic leader it will move from being a great company to being a good company, with a commensurate step down in revenue growth and product innovation,” Colony wrote.  

 An Apple spokesman declined to comment for this story.

The fade Colony describes doesn’t appear to be on the immediate horizon.

This week, Apple reported doubling its profits in the first three months of the year, largely on the strength of the 35.1 million iPhones it sold (a number that far exceeded predictions). The company said it also sold 4 million Mac computers, 11.8 million iPads and 7.7 million iPods during the quarter.

Colony predicted that Apple’s long-term fate will mirror that of onetime industry leaders like Sony and Kodak when they lost enigmatic leaders, or Disney in the 20 years after Walt Disney’s death.

In his post Wednesday, Colony described Apple in almost religious terms. “Charismatic organizations are run by people with ‘the gift of grace,’ ” he wrote, citing sociologist Max Weber.

But when that leader is gone, shifting to a more bureaucratic leader (which works for some organizations) doesn’t translate well, he wrote.

“In charismatic organizations, the magical leader must be succeeded by another charismatic — the emotional connection of employees and (in the case of Apple) customers demands it,” Colony said. “Apple has chosen a proven and competent executive to succeed Jobs. But his legal/bureaucratic approach will prove to be a mismatch for an organization that feeds off the gift of grace.”

Colony pointed to Apple executives Jon Ive and Scott Forstall as being better suited to run the company, saying they appear to possess the charisma and design sense to “legitimately” lead Apple.

Forrester is a global technology research company founded by Colony in 1983 and is considered a leader in analyzing the technology industry.

The New York-based venture kicked off 2012 by launching Code Year. Sign up for the free project and you’ll receive an interactive programming lesson each week in your inbox. Nearly 200,000 people have already joined, including New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who tweeted about his plan to participate. 

“There are a lot of people who want to make New Year’s resolutions they’ll stick to,” says Codecademy co-founder Zach Sims. “This is something they can use and learn.”

The first lesson will go out to subscribers on Monday, Jan. 9. Participants will have plenty of support: The Twitter hashtag #codeyear is already buzzing.

“We’ll walk people along the path while they’re doing it,” Sims says.

After coming up with the Code Year idea in early December, the Codecademy team partnered with tech communities including Y Combinator, TechStars and HackNY to spread the word.

It’s the most ambitious project yet attempted by seven-month-old Codecademy. Launched in June, the site offers free, self-guided online courses on programming basics as well as on specific coding languages like Javascript.

Sims notes that programming skills are becoming increasingly important in the job market, and says that learning even the basics can give users a leg up.

Even Mayor Mike — whose term ends in 2013 — could score a new gig if he sticks with his pledge. “When you’re done being mayor, we’ll get you set up with an interview to join the @foursquare engineering team,” Foursquare chief engineer Harry Heymann.

Keep the services you love while saving up to $300 a year, thanks to these smart tactics.
Most of us are feeling the pinch as our cell phone bills climb higher: For an individual with a service contract, the average monthly tab is a whopping $92, reports J.D. Power and Associates, an information-services firm. While talk time is actually getting cheaper, add-on charges for text and data services — and the fact that most households now have multiple mobile lines — mean that “owning a cell phone is an increasingly large chunk of the monthly budget,” notes Linda Sherry, director of national priorities for Consumer Action, an advocacy group. But it’s a chunk you can whittle down by identifying and eliminating unnecessary (and sometimes sneaky) charges. In fact, the bill-comparison site billshrink.com estimates that the average American who has a single wireless line can save $336 a year; the key lies in finding a plan that better suits how much you talk, text, and Web surf. Here, six strategies that will help you avoid common cell phone money pits and save big on that monthly bill:

MONEY PIT #1
Shifting “Friends and Family” 

When Ann Dalrymple of Boston gave in to her iPhone craving, she switched carriers but kept the same 500-minute plan that she’d been happy with for years. But then the first month’s bill arrived, for a whopping $285.37 — more than triple what she had expected. “I’d never gone over my allotted minutes before,” Dalrymple says. One big part of the sky-high charges: dozens of minutes spent with callers who still used her old carrier and had previously been free under her “friends and family” plan. Now Dalrymple had to pay for every single minute. To avoid this hitch when switching carriers, check which of your frequently dialed contacts will no longer be free as part of your “friends and family” network, and then see which plan will best suit your needs. Doing so takes just a few minutes on the phone and is cheaper than overage fees. And if you still receive a huge bill that makes you rethink your decision, know that carriers let you switch plans, often penalty-free, within your two-year contract — even mid-month.

What’s more, even those who are loyal to their carrier can learn from Dalrymple’s case of sticker shock: To make sure you don’t unwittingly go over your allotted minutes and rack up major charges, log on to your account online and set alerts so that you get a text-message or e-mail warning when you’re near your limit. Verizon Wireless subscribers, for example, can check how much they’ve used for free in their online account and set usage controls in the “Manage Verizon Safeguards” section. (There’s a $4.99 charge for the latter.)

MONEY PIT #2
“Unlimited Service” Offers

Paying for unlimited talk, text-messages, and data may seem to be the best way to dodge the surprise of an unusually high bill. Such plans are, however, quite expensive (up to $100 a month or even more) and are rarely the best fit if, say, only one or two people do the bulk of text-messaging or e-mailing, says Samir Kothari, cofounder of billshrink.com. Instead of signing up all your family’s cell phones for unlimited services, assess each person’s needs separately; you can usually add services per line as usage dictates — a more economical solution.

Tip: If you don’t opt for an unlimited plan but have chatty teens, consider parental controls, which allow you to put a cap on a line’s activity, although they usually involve a $5 to $10 monthly fee. How they work: Your teen gets a warning before he’s cut off at the limit you’ve set for talking, text-messaging, downloading, and other actions (video bumps up usage especially fast), allowing him to better manage his phone time.

MONEY PIT #3
Pricey New Plans

Beware the “free upgrade” of your phone to a newer model if you’re currently a low-tech customer. Nearly two-thirds of the cell phones carriers sell these days require an extra data plan for receiving e-mail, using apps, and surfing the Internet — easily boosting your bill by $15 to $30 a month, whether you plan to use those capabilities or not. You may just want to say no and stick with the basic model you already own.

Next: Wrong-Button Fumbles, Staying Under Contract, and Sneaky Sales

Representatives from the non-profit Electronic Frontier Foundation have talked with Amazon officials about the speedy, new cloud-based browser, focusing on what user information will be transmitted via the cloud and shared by the company.

“Our conversation with Amazon allayed many of our major concerns,” said the EFF.

As msnbc.com’s Wilson Rothman explained when Kindle Fire was announced, Silk “weds the tablet to Amazon’s cloud network.    The browser gathers user behavior in order to predict where you’ll go next, and caching that Web page in advance. If you always jump from msnbc.com to the tech/sci page, it will start loading it on the back end, so that it’s quicker to load for you.”

The EFF, in a statement, said, in part:

After all, while in cloud acceleration mode, the user is trusting Amazon with an incredible amount of information. This is because Amazon is sitting in the middle of most communications between a user’s Fire tablet on the one hand, and the website she chooses to visit on the other. This puts Amazon in a position to track a user’s browsing habits and possibly sensitive content. As there were a lot of questions that the Silk announcement left unresolved, we decided to follow up with Amazon to learn more about the privacy implications.

… Cloud acceleration mode is the default setting, but Amazon has assured us it will be easy to turn off on the first page of the browser settings menu. When turned off, Silk operates as a normal web browser, sending the requests directly to the web sites you are visiting.

Also, Amazon, the EFF says, “does not intercept encrypted traffic, so your communications over HTTPS would not be accelerated or tracked.”

“Though we are happy about some of the ways the (Silk) browser protects the end user’s privacy, a couple of serious privacy concerns remain,” the EFF said.

“First of all, Amazon stores URLs (website addresses) you visit, and these sometimes contain identifying information. To pick a prominent example, there is an opportunity to identify people through their search history with some degree of accuracy. Indeed, given the common practice employed by search engines of putting query terms in the URL as parameters, Amazon will effectively have a database of user search histories across many different search engines.”

Also, “the data collected by Amazon provides a ripe source of users’ collective browsing habits, which could be an attractive target for law enforcement. For users who are worried about these privacy issues and about putting a lot of trust in Amazon to keep their data safe, we recommend turning off cloud acceleration.”

The EFF is not the only group that is raising privacy issues.

Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass), a co-chairman of Congress’s Bi-Partisan Privacy Caucus, recently sent a letter to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos asking similar questions about Silk as the Electronic Frontier Foundation did. Markey set a deadline of Nov. 4 for Bezos to reply.

The EFF said it is good that with Silk, “the end user has control over whether to use cloud acceleration. But this new technology highlights the need for better online privacy protections. As companies continue to innovate in ways that make novel uses of — and expose much more personal data to — the Internet cloud, it’s critical that the legal protections for that data keep up with changes technology.”

1. Project Management Professional (PMP)

The role of a project manager is to serve as the intermediary between the IT project team members and the key individuals who are involved with a project. A project manager tries to ensure that a project is completed in a timely manner and within all budgetary and legal constraints. The typical scope of project managers responsibilities include overseeing the processes and methodologies used for the successful completion of the project. The successful project managers can not only help save money for their company, but can also by ensuring all timelines are met (which some would argue is also money as well). There is a growing demand for skilled and competent IT project managers. These are the PM’s who can work through a budgetary crisis and conflicting resource priorities. 

2. Microsoft Certified System Engineer (MCSE)

The Microsoft Certified System Engineer (MCSE) certification was Microsoft’s premier certification up to 2006. The MCSE has been around since the NT3.5 days (mid-90s) and in its 12+ years old in its’ current form and we have developed a certain comfort and familiarity with our beloved MCSE. An entire generation of IT Professionals has “grown up” knowing exactly where an MCSE fits into the certification scheme and they also have a good idea of what is involved in earning the MCSE and also the worth of this certification both financially and professionally.

This is not to mean that there haven’t been additions and other enhancements to the program over the years. The original MCSE was earned on a specific variant of the NT system. So let’s say you earned your MCSE on NT 3.51 and then on NT4, You were certified on those two systems – as a Systems Engineer. This same naming approach held true for Windows Server 2000 and Server 2003.

3. A+ (CompTIA) Computing Technology Industry Association

Of all the IT certifications available, few of them can be viewed as verifying and validating the computer skills of entry level employees. The A+ Certification is one such an exam and has been extremely popular since originally released in 1993. The A+ certification validates foundation-level knowledge and skills necessary for a career in PC support.

This certification is viewed as the starting point for a career in the IT field. The CompTIA A+ certification is an international, vendor-neutral certification that proves competence in such computer areas as installation, preventative maintenance, networking, security and troubleshooting.

In January 2010 the ANSI/ISO approved A+ certification had the certification expiration period to three years. Prior to this, those earning a CompTIA held the certification for life. A changed to this was made so that current certificate holders will still have valid certifications for life, but any new certifications earned after December 31, 2010 will expire every three years.

4. Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA)

The CCNA certification is a highly regarded networking certification from Cisco. It is the second level of Cisco’s five tiered certification track. Having passed the CCNA exam (or exams, how many you take depends on which CCNA certification approach you decide to pursue), you have demonstrated a high degree of competency and have validated your skills in install, configure, operate, and troubleshoot medium-size routed and switched networks, including implementation and verification of connections to remote sites in a WAN

5. Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP).

The Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) credential is for security managers and professionals who develop policies and procedures in information security. The CISSP certification has become the gold standard in information security certifications and education. Earning and maintaining a CISSP certification is required for many governmental, military and civilian security positions. The CISSP was the first credential in the field of information security, accredited by the ANSI (American National Standards Institute) to ISO (International Organization for Standardization) Standard 17024:2003. Earning your CISSP certification is not only an objective measure of excellence, but is a globally recognized standard of achievement.

6. IT Infrastructure Library Certification (ITIL)

What is this ITIL that we hear so much about? The Information Technology Infrastructure Library (TIL) is a foundational process that provides for quality IT Service Management. The success of ITIL is through the use of documented and proven processes that cover the entire IT Service Lifecycle. ITIL v3 is the current version of this widely adopted best practices framework for IT management The ITIL Foundation certification is the first of four levels in ITIL and offers those who are certified a general awareness of the key elements, concepts and terminology used in the ITIL Service Lifecycle, including the linkages between Lifecycle stages, the processes used and their contribution to Service Management practices

7. Cisco Certified Voice Professional (CCVP) – CCNP Voice

Pick your voice flavor of choice, Lync Server 2010, Polycom, Avaya, or Cisco to name but a few – they all require highly skilled and knowledgeable people. This is even truer when trying to integrate conferencing or Unified Messaging into the network. VoIP is growing rapidly – businesses are demanding the integration of voice with their messaging and conferencing networks. The problem is there just aren’t that many experienced voice people, especially ones who are skilled in two or more platforms. If you happen to be a Cisco voice guru and have also mastered the intricacies of Lync Server 2010 Unified Messaging and conferencing, than you are set!

8. Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH)

A Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) is a skilled security professional who understands the weaknesses and vulnerabilities in target systems and knows how to use this knowledge and specific tools as if he were a malicious hacker. Individuals who have earned the CEH certification from EC-council may fulfill job roles such as security officers, auditors, security professionals, site administrators or anyone who is concerned about the integrity of the network infrastructure. An Ethical Hacker is an individual who is usually employed or contracted by an organization and who can be trusted to ethically penetrate corporate networks and/or computer systems using the same methods and tools as a hacker. The key point is that an Ethical Hacker has written authorization to probe and possibly penetrate the target network.

9. VMware Certified Professional (VCP)

Virtualization and those who are knowledgeable on virtualization products are in heavy demand. VMware is one of the leading vendors of virtualization products and earning a VMware certification is the first step toward gaining industry recognized expertise in virtual infrastructure and the industry recognition that goes along with it. The VMware Certified Professional (VCP) demonstrates that you have the skillset to successfully install, manage and deploy VMware vSphere 5.

10. Security+ (CompTIA)

Security+ is a very popular certification as it validates the knowledge of security professionals in one of the fastest-growing fields in IT. The Security+ certification was developed in 2002 to address the rise of computer and information security issues. This certification should not be viewed as strictly an entry level certification as it has become an industry standard for security certifications. The Security+ certification encompasses such topics as: Access control and identity management, Application, data and host security, Compliance and operational security, cryptography and access control, Threats and vulnerabilities. Those security individuals in the United States Department of Defense, the DoDD 8570, IAT Level II certification guidelines lists Security+ as one of four choices.

In January 2010 the ANSI/ISO approved A+ certification had the certification expiration period to three years. Prior to this, those earning a CompTIA held the certification for life. A changed to this was made so that current certificate holders will still have valid certifications for life, but any new certifications earned after December 31, 2010 will expire every three years.

11. Microsoft Certified IT Professional (MCITP)

The MCITP certification is the successor to the venerable MCSE. The MCITP certification is tied to a specific product and the certification will be retired when that particular product is no longer supported. This certification is for those IT professionals who work with a variety of products and are involved with advanced planning. You earn your MCITP by taking two or more MCTS (Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist). So, while you re earning your MCITP, you will also earn MCTS certifications as well. Therefore, you will earn one or more MCTS certifications on your way to earning an MCITP certification. Currently there are 18 MCITP certifications available, covering such subjects as SQL, SharePoint, Windows Server and Lync Server, among others.

When reading all the comments, people weren’t complaining about the vRAM model, but mostly about the entitlements. A vSphere 5 Enterprise license would give you a 32GB vRAM entitlement per CPU and 48GB vRAM on Enterprise Plus. Many thought this was much too low.

Well, there is some great news. I picked up on a rumor which will make a lot of people happy. Personally, I never thought VMware would change the licensing policy and especially not in such a short time. A big company like VMware would need weeks and maybe months to change their plans, but I stand corrected. VMware used the customer feedback and changed the vRAM entitlements. My compliments!!!

The new policy:

• VMware vSphere 5 Essentials will give a 24GB vRAM entitlement
• VMware vSphere 5 Essentials Plus will give a 32GB vRAM entitlement
• Max vRAM in Essentials / Essentials Plus will be maxed at 192GB vRAM
• VMware vSphere 5 Standard vRAM entitlement has changed to 32GB ( <- my assumption)
• VMware vSphere 5 Enterprise vRAM entitlement will be doubled to 64GB
• VMware vSphere 5 Enterprise Plus vRAM entitlement will be doubled to 96GB

The amount of vRAM that counts against your vRAM license pool will be capped to 96GB per VM !!! In other words, even if you assign 256GB or the new 1TB limit of RAM to a VM, it will only count as 96GB for your license.

The statement was issued in Lyon, France, on Tuesday by the International Agency for Research on Cancer after a weeklong meeting of experts. They reviewed possible links between cancer and the type of electromagnetic radiation found in cellphones, microwaves and radar.

The agency is the cancer arm of the World Health Organization and the assessment now goes to WHO and national health agencies for possible guidance on cellphone use.
The group classified cellphones in category 2B, meaning they are possibly carcinogenic to humans. Other substances in that category include the pesticide DDT and gasoline engine exhaust.

Last year, results of a large study found no clear link between cellphones and cancer. But some advocacy groups contend the study raised serious concerns because it showed a hint of a possible connection between very heavy phone use and glioma, a rare but often deadly form of brain tumor. However, the numbers in that subgroup weren’t sufficient to make the case.

The study was controversial because it began with people who already had cancer and asked them to recall how often they used their cellphones more than a decade ago.

In about 30 other studies done in Europe, New Zealand and the U.S., patients with brain tumors have not reported using their cellphones more often than unaffected people.

Because cellphones are so popular, it may be impossible for experts to compare cellphone users who develop brain tumors with people who don’t use the devices. According to a survey last year, the number of cellphone subscribers worldwide has hit 5 billion, or nearly three-quarters of the global population.

People’s cellphone habits have also changed dramatically since the first studies began years ago and it’s unclear if the results of previous research would still apply today.

Since many cancerous tumors take decades to develop, experts say it’s impossible to conclude cellphones have no long-term health risks. The studies conducted so far haven’t tracked people for longer than about a decade.

Cellphones send signals to nearby towers via radio frequency waves, a form of energy similar to FM radio waves and microwaves. But the radiation produced by cellphones cannot directly damage DNA and is different from stronger types of radiation like X-rays or ultraviolet light. At very high levels, radio frequency waves from cellphones can heat up body tissue, but that is not believed to damage human cells.

According to Cancer Research U.K., the only health danger firmly connected to cellphones is a higher risk of car accidents. The group recommends children under 16 only use cellphones for essential calls because their brains and nervous systems are still developing.

Also, a recent U.S. National Institutes of Health  study found that cellphone use can speed up brain activity, but it is unknown whether that has any dangerous health effects.

These improvements were part of the vSphere roadmap presented here at this week’s Partner Exchange conference.

VSphere 5 will be out in the second half of this year, but the release will be before VMworld, according to VMware product managers who led the roadmap session. That puts the vSphere 5 release date in July or August. The subsequent vSphere release, due in 2012, is expected to add a service-level agreement (SLA) framework and long-distance vMotion.

Storage DRS in vSphere 5
Storage Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS), a popular wish list item from  users, will use Storage vMotion to perform automatic load balancing if a disk becomes overloaded.

Vijay Ramachandran, a VMware group product manager, explained that Storage DRS users will be able to define groups of data stores, called “storage pods,” that will automatically load-balance based on capacity. Users can then provision virtual machines (VMs) to specific storage pods rather than to specific data stores.

If it works as promised, Storage DRS will increase storage utilization, save time spent reorganizing data stores and help users avoid placing VMs on over- or under-powered data stores, Ramachandran said. The feature will help popularize storage load balancing, said Christopher Reed, a Dallas-based consulting principal for VMware partner INX.

“People don’t take the time to balance their own storage,” he said. “You need a mechanism to either tell you to do it or do it for you.”

The automation aspect is what will set Storage DRS apart, said Lew Smith, business development and virtualization specialist at Interphase Systems, a VMware partner in Plymouth Meeting, Pa.

“Storage vMotion is great,” he said. “Don’t get me wrong. But there’s a manual aspect.”
Host-based replication in vSphere 5
The vSphere 5 roadmap also includes host-based replication for Site Recovery Manager (SRM). This feature is designed for organizations that don’t use array-based storage replication, or use different types of storage at different sites, Ramachandran said. The replication will be asynchronous and be able to protect individual VMs, he said.  

Host-based replication will be particularly handy for small- and medium-sized businesses that can’t afford to duplicate their storage infrastructure at a disaster recovery (DR) site, Reed said.

“With host-based replication, I can still have shared storage on my main site, and it doesn’t matter what I have at my DR site,” he said.

The ability to move VMs from one kind of storage to another will also boost VMware’s cloud computing message, said Keith Norbie, the vice president of Nexus Information Systems, a VMware partner in Plymouth, Minn.

“You can’t simply just provide a service broker in one location,” he said. “You need to be able to move it around. It’s all about elasticity.”
Network I/O control for VMs
Another feature on the vSphere 5 roadmap was network I/O control for VMs, which will reserve bandwidth for high-priority workloads in a cluster if that cluster’s network path is overloaded, Ramachandran said.

Reed said it’s always good to have more control over the network, but he wasn’t sure how useful this feature would be for advanced shops.

“With 10 Gig Ethernet, I don’t know how much network contingent I have, anyway,” he said.

VMware is working with hardware vendors to develop application programming interfaces (APIs) – other than the previously disclosed vStorage APIs for Array Integration and vStorage APIs for Storage Awareness — to take advantage of the new features in vSphere 5, Ramachandran added.
After vSphere 5
The vSphere roadmap session also previewed features slated for the 2012 vSphere release. The SLA framework, which ties into VMware’s private cloud computing vision, will enable users to set SLA policies for specific applications, said Deep Bhattacharjee, a staff product manager. A “policy engine” will then enforce those policies and guarantee quality of service, he said.

“The SLA framework is something we’re investing quite a bit in,” he added.

VMware also aims to include long-distance vMotion in the 2012 vSphere release, Ramachandran said. VMotion, VMware’s live-migration technology, is one of the most popular features in VMware data centers. At VMworld 2009, VMware and Cisco Systems announced the capability to live-migrate VMs across hosts more than 100 miles apart, and it appears that feature is getting closer to reality for users.

The company has issued a security advisory warning to customers about a recent scam that infects Macs with malicious software that wrongly tells them their computer is infected with a virus (Fake Anti-virus). The ultimate goal is to get credit card numbers and other valuable personal information.

It is one of the first major campaigns that cyber crooks have launched against Mac users. To date, criminals have focused on writing malicious software for machines running Microsoft Corp’s Windows operating system, which inhabits more than nine of every 10 personal computers.

But as Macs have grown in number, they have become more attractive targets.

The fake anti-virus malware is downloaded when people click on links from tainted search engine results for popular queries, according to anti-virus software maker McAfee Inc. It also spreads when users click on links to malicious sites that might be included in emails, Tweets or Facebook messages.

Apple said it will issue an update for its Mac operating system “in the coming days” that will automatically find and remove malicious fake anti-virus software. It will also warn Mac users when they download such programs.

In the meantime, Apple has issued advice on how users can clean up machines that have been infected by the malicious software, which goes by names including MacDefender, MacProtector and MacSecurity. (support.apple.com/kb/HT4650)

A recent Microsoft update to .NET Framework 2.0 is the cause. Some of the files necessary for the .NET Framework, or the Delivery Services Console, might not have registered properly during the installation of the XenApp management consoles.

Use the procedure below to re-register the PSE.core.dll.

From a command prompt, enter the following:
C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727>regasm /codebase “C:\Program Files\Common Files\Citrix\Presentation Server – Administration Snap-in\PSE.Core.dll”
Re-launch the Citrix Delivery Services Console. The XenApp node will appear

The Internet search and advertising leader will work with MasterCard Inc, the world’s second-largest credit and debit card processing network, to launch the system, the source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.

Google has teamed with MasterCard and Citigroup Inc to develop the system, the Wall Street Journal reported in March.

It has now signed up retail partners Macy’s Inc, American Eagle Outfitters Inc and Subway, though it is unclear if the project will be launched nationwide or just in New York initially, the Journal cited sources as saying Tuesday.

Google invited reporters to attend a “partner event” on Thursday in New York to demonstrate what it called its “latest innovations.” It plans to unveil a mobile payments system that will run on the Android operating system and be available on phones from Sprint Nextel Corp, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.

A source familiar with the matter confirmed Google would launch the program. Citigroup did not respond to requests for comment. Google, Sprint and MasterCard declined comment.

About a decade after they were dreamed up by engineers and marketers, mobile wallets are still far from commonplace in the United States, stymied by industry infighting, consumer tastes and regulatory hurdles.

That has not stopped banks, phone makers and technology companies — fearful of being left behind — from trumpeting the concept.

Shoppers abroad, especially in Asia, can already wave cellphones at the check-out counter to pay for everything from groceries to gasoline.

ELBOWING TO THE FRONT

Now, a growing number of mobile operators, banks, technology companies and card processing networks like Visa Inc and MasterCard are vying to gain a foothold in the still-small but high-potential U.S. mobile payments market.

Three of the top U.S. mobile carriers — AT&T Inc, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA — are also looking for bank and network partners to launch their Isis mobile payments venture. The companies recently scaled back initial plans to build a new payment processing network that would have competed with dominant industry players Visa and MasterCard.

Since last year, Visa has tested pay-by-phone technology with several large U.S. banks, including Bank of America Corp and Wells Fargo & Co.

“There’s room for more than one competitor,” said Google Ventures Managing Partner Bill Maris, speaking about the industry in general.

Such services would appeal to consumers if they can help them save money or shorten their time in line at the supermarket check-out, he added.

“The experience of buying things will be better, faster, cheaper,” he said.

Details are sketchy, but the Journal reported Google was unlikely to get a cut of transactions, focusing instead on benefiting by helping retailers target ads and discount offers to Android users close to stores.

Currently, credit card companies charge merchants transaction fees. Other players, such as wireless operators AT&T and phone makers from Research In Motion to Apple Inc, are likely to demand a cut of sales.

This puts U.S. retailers in the uncomfortable position of possibly surrendering more margins

It Has Android

There is perhaps a simple, easy reason Google decided against bringing Chrome OS to tablets: it already has Android. On mobile devices, the company’s Android operating system is performing extremely well. It would only make sense for Google to not want to mess with that success with a competitor of its own.

Consumer Confusion?

Google’s decision to bring Chrome OS to notebooks might have something to do with its desire to not want to confuse customers. If the company brought Chrome OS to tablets, consumers wouldn’t know whether to choose Android or Chrome OS. And in that case, no one would win. Confusion has crippled many firms in the past—and Google doesn’t want to be one of them.

It’s What Consumers Know

Whenever a company unveils a new software platform, it’s easiest to introduce the operating system on hardware consumers know. And although tablets are gaining popularity, they still can’t compete on a sales basis with notebooks. Google brought Chrome OS to notebooks because it knew that consumers would be able to easily interact with a platform they were familiar with.

A Future Enterprise Play?

Google’s decision to launch Chrome OS on notebooks might have something to do with the company’s future intentions. Google’s decision to go with notebooks in the launch might relate to its desire to appeal to the enterprise. The corporate world isn’t ready for tablets, but it is ready for notebooks. And Google knows that.

It Has Android

There is perhaps a simple, easy reason Google decided against bringing Chrome OS to tablets: it already has Android. On mobile devices, the company’s Android operating system is performing extremely well. It would only make sense for Google to not want to mess with that success with a competitor of its own.

Consumer Confusion?

Google’s decision to bring Chrome OS to notebooks might have something to do with its desire to not want to confuse customers. If the company brought Chrome OS to tablets, consumers wouldn’t know whether to choose Android or Chrome OS. And in that case, no one would win. Confusion has crippled many firms in the past—and Google doesn’t want to be one of them.

It’s What Consumers Know

Whenever a company unveils a new software platform, it’s easiest to introduce the operating system on hardware consumers know. And although tablets are gaining popularity, they still can’t compete on a sales basis with notebooks. Google brought Chrome OS to notebooks because it knew that consumers would be able to easily interact with a platform they were familiar with.

It’s An Easier Sell to Vendors

In order for Chrome OS to catch on with consumers, Google needs the help of vendors. However, the company knew that the only way vendors would opt for Chrome OS was if the company designed it for notebooks. Tablets are simply too risky for every firm to get into right now because of the iPad. But notebooks are different—it’s a market that firms like Acer know well. Notebooks were simply an easier sell to vendors than tablets.

It’s Competing Against Windows

If Android is competing against iOS, Google’s Chrome OS platform is taking on Microsoft Windows. Realizing that, it wouldn’t have made much sense for Google to offer the operating system on mobile devices, like tablets. Google wants to take down Windows. And the only way it will do that is to start with Chrome OS on notebooks.

Tablets Need Offline Access

Although any computer needs offline access, it’s especially the case with tablets. Folks want to be able to use their tablets while away from an Internet connection. Moreover, they don’t necessarily want to always be connected to the Web to get work done. Tablets are ideal for those people. Lightweight notebooks, which are likely meant to supplement other products, work just fine as always-on options.

The Browser Opportunities Are Better

When it comes to tablets, surfing the Web with the included browsers in respective devices isn’t all that great. In fact, Google’s Android 3.0 “Honeycomb” platform is the first option that actually delivers a desktop-like browsing experience on tablets. Realizing that, it seems that tablets just aren’t ready for an operating system that relies upon a top-of-the-line browsing experience. Notebooks, however, are ready for such an option.

The Transition to Mobile Takes Time

If anything is clear, it’s that developing a full-fledged mobile operating system takes a long time. Moreover, getting it right is difficult. Google has proven that with Android. With Chrome OS, it might have a leg up. The operating system is based on a platform that it knows inside and out. And for the most part, it should be easier to handle. A switch to mobile at this point just wouldn’t make so much sense.

Consider Google’s Other Cloud Options

Google’s plans for Chrome OS go far beyond its operating system. The company is also utilizing its other cloud options, including Google Docs and Search, to bolster its offerings. And for now, the best experience with all of its many other cloud-based services occurs on a desktop or notebook. It would only make sense, then, that Google would opt for notebooks, rather than tablets, with Chrome OS.  

It’s An Easier Sell to Vendors

In order for Chrome OS to catch on with consumers, Google needs the help of vendors. However, the company knew that the only way vendors would opt for Chrome OS was if the company designed it for notebooks. Tablets are simply too risky for every firm to get into right now because of the iPad. But notebooks are different—it’s a market that firms like Acer know well. Notebooks were simply an easier sell to vendors than tablets.

It’s Competing Against Windows

If Android is competing against iOS, Google’s Chrome OS platform is taking on Microsoft Windows. Realizing that, it wouldn’t have made much sense for Google to offer the operating system on mobile devices, like tablets. Google wants to take down Windows. And the only way it will do that is to start with Chrome OS on notebooks.

Tablets Need Offline Access

Although any computer needs offline access, it’s especially the case with tablets. Folks want to be able to use their tablets while away from an Internet connection. Moreover, they don’t necessarily want to always be connected to the Web to get work done. Tablets are ideal for those people. Lightweight notebooks, which are likely meant to supplement other products, work just fine as always-on options.

The Browser Opportunities Are Better

When it comes to tablets, surfing the Web with the included browsers in respective devices isn’t all that great. In fact, Google’s Android 3.0 “Honeycomb” platform is the first option that actually delivers a desktop-like browsing experience on tablets. Realizing that, it seems that tablets just aren’t ready for an operating system that relies upon a top-of-the-line browsing experience. Notebooks, however, are ready for such an option.

The Transition to Mobile Takes Time

If anything is clear, it’s that developing a full-fledged mobile operating system takes a long time. Moreover, getting it right is difficult. Google has proven that with Android. With Chrome OS, it might have a leg up. The operating system is based on a platform that it knows inside and out. And for the most part, it should be easier to handle. A switch to mobile at this point just wouldn’t make so much sense.

Consider Google’s Other Cloud Options

Google’s plans for Chrome OS go far beyond its operating system. The company is also utilizing its other cloud options, including Google Docs and Search, to bolster its offerings. And for now, the best experience with all of its many other cloud-based services occurs on a desktop or notebook. It would only make sense, then, that Google would opt for notebooks, rather than tablets, with Chrome OS.