Hot Software News at Z5software

The Lower Merion School District in Pennsylvania is getting a crash course–trial-by-fire style–on the limits of what is acceptable when monitoring computer activity. The facts are still being worked out, and investigations and lawsuits are still pending, but there are some lessons to be learned here for conducting an effective–and legal–monitoring program.

1. Disclosure. One of the most important steps in separating “monitoring” from “spying” is to establish what is acceptable, and provide some advanced notice that computer activity and communications could be monitored.

In general, there is no need to specify how or when the monitoring might be done. A disclaimer that the real estate software Canada company reserves the right to monitor activity is more or less standard. However, the ability to enable the webcam on a laptop in the individual’s home without their knowledge or consent is outside of the gray area–it crosses from diligent monitoring to creepy spying real quick.

2. Discretion. Even if monitoring has been disclosed as a possibility, some controls should be in place regarding how and when monitoring is conducted (especially for equipment like laptops that are also used in the home), as well as which individuals have the authority to conduct monitoring, or access data gathered through monitoring.

While the real estate software Ontario company may be within its legal rights in monitoring network and computer activity of employees, the privacy rights of employees engaged in illicit or questionable activities could still be violated if those actions are broadly disclosed to peers, managers from other departments, or other parties that have no stake or interest in the employee’s productivity.

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Dot Hill Systems, a Carlsbad maker of data storage products, said yesterday it has agreed to buy privately held software company Cloverleaf Communications for $12 million in stock and cash.

The purchase gives Dot Hill a foothold in cloud storage and storage virtualization software. It furthers the company’s goal of offering more software-related storage products with its current hardware and software, thus boosting profit margins.

Founded in 2001, Cloverleaf was based in Woodbury, N.Y. It also had operations in Israel.

“Cloverleaf had invested over $43 million and nine years of development in these products,” said Dana Kammersgard, chief executive of Dot Hill.

Dot Hill, which makes disk storage arrays, said Cloverleaf’s technology came out of Elta Systems/Israel Aerospace Industries. It raised venture capital money primarily in Israel.

As part of the transaction, a number of Cloverleaf’s founders will join Dot Hill.

Dot Hill expects the acquisition to begin adding to its financial results in 2011. The purchase was funded by $2.5 million in cash and $9.5 million in stock.

Dot Hill also reaffirmed its fourth quarter forecast of $62 million to $67 million in revenue and a loss of 1 cent to 7 cents a share. Analysts are predicting a fourth quarter loss of 5 cents per share on revenue of $64 million.

Today during Google’s Nexus One event, Android lead Andy Rubin revealed something that’s sure to be a relief for Android users and developers alike: you’ll eventually be able to store a vast number of applications on your phone ? even large ones ? the same way you can on an iPhone. The change will come with a future software update, when Android begins storing applications as encrypted files on the SD card. Rubin didn’t say how long it will be until we see the update, but it’s clear that the team is working to resolve the problem.

Up until now, developers have been hampered by the fact that every Android phone to date has had a relatively small amount of storage available for applications (a couple hundred megabytes as opposed to the iPhone’s many gigabytes). Apps are stored in the phone’s ROM rather than the phone’s removable (and cheaper) SD storage, which grants developers enhanced protection against having their apps pirated. But it’s also proven to be a handicap.

Many of the iPhone’s most popular applications are graphics intensive, rich games. But these games often require high quality visual assets to go with them. The iPhone handles these fine ? you can download massive apps over Wi-Fi or through iTunes sync. On the other hand, while the newest Android phones are certainly capable of rendering high quality graphics, their ability to handle large apps is limited by the phone’s available storage. Yes, developers can choose to download their app’s assets to the SD card after the initial install, but this isn’t a good experience for the end user.

The voting machine levers are officially history.

After years of delays and fierce lobbying, the New York City Board of Elections on Tuesday selected Elections Systems and Software, an Omaha company, to provide new electronic voting machines in time for the September primary.

Voters will now be required to fill out a paper ballot with ovals, similar to an SAT exam, before feeding it into a faxlike scanner. Then, voters are required to answer questions on a computer touch screen to ensure that the selections they made are the ones they intended. The paper ballots will then be retained as backup hard copies, in the event of any disputes or recounts.

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