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IBM launched late Monday a new portfolio of products and services for the enterprise cloud computing market, which the company claims builds on lessons learned from earlier cloud initiatives.

Targeted at providing standardized platforms for specific computing workloads, the products and services, launched under the Smart Business and IBM CloudBurst monikers, aim to change the way IT organizations build and deliver IT services.

"Cloud is an important new consumption and delivery model for IT and business services. Large enterprises want our help to capitalize on what this model offers in a way that is safe, reliable, and efficient for … Read more

The private beta is an art form. It can make a service seem exclusive and important, even if the site's creators are just trying to keep it from imploding from an influx of new users. While Web developers have long used this control system to do pre-launch bug mashing, certain sites have made it something memorable--even if the product ends up being a dud.

Gmail, circa 2004, is one of the best examples of a private beta done right. Google intentionally limited the number of people who could use the service, but built in an invite system that would let users give access to friends and family. What ensued were a number of trading sites where users could exchange favors or services in return for an invite. Google eventually opened the service up to everyone, but for a while the hottest ticket in town was a Gmail invite.

Here are some of our favorites from the past few years:

Google Wave Status: Still closed This is the Web beta everyone wants in to today. It's a cool new communications platform that melds e-mail, instant messaging, and collaborative editing. But here's the thing: as interesting as it is to experiment with (we're in it, nyah nyah), it's mostly useless since you can't really talk with anyone in the real world on Wave. Only selected developers and press are in it now, and users don't get invitations to give out to friends. And who wants to talk to us?

Google Voice Status: Still closed Here's a closed Google beta that is useful, though: Google Voice. This incredible service gives you a new phone number with nearly every useful telephone feature known to mankind: it screens your calls, it forwards calls to other phones, it dials out (indirectly, but still). It receives and sends text messages. Currently, only people who got on to the previous version of the product, Grand Central (which Google acquired) have access. That's a bummer for everyone else. It's fantastic. When it opens up (Google won't say when), get it.

Wolfram Alpha Status: Opened May 15, 2009 The not-a-Google-killer "knowledge engine" was hyped to absurd levels for months before it was shown. Then Wolfram founder Stephen Wolfram held a series of over-the-Web product demos to froth up the geeks even more. Finally, a few lucky souls got access. It opened up to the public a week later. In this case, we understand why the developers held off on opening it up. Wolfram Alpha is an extremely interesting service but it's picky about syntax. For most users, it still makes for a better gee-whiz demo than it does a day-to-day productivity tool.

Microsoft Bing Status: Opened June 1, 2009 If you can't buy 'em, build 'em. After the Yahoo negotiations fell apart, rumors started to circulate about a new Microsoft search initiative, code-named "Kumo." Could Microsoft finally get search right? Access to the private beta was doled out to a few journalists in late May, giving the company only a few days to do damage control before the scheduled public rollout in early June. Fortunately for Microsoft, the reception for Bing was welcoming, even if most writers started off skeptical.… Read more

In the wide world of photo-sharing tools, Memeo Share makes a strong effort to retain your focus with online backups, support for full-resolution photos and videos, social networking features, and a revamped interface.

Version 2 makes a much-needed overhaul of the interface, which was not Memeo's best selling point. For a media-management tool, that can be the kiss of death, no matter how cool its features are. The new user interface is definitely "slick," as Memeo calls it, but it's also simple and bolstered by clean, big buttons.

Since Memeo's big selling point is that … Read more

ID Image Protector uses image encryption to protect important files and folders. However, not only did it produce numerous error messages, it also failed to include any kind of encryption options.

When we first installed the program, we came across an error message. Luckily, we were able to ignore it and move on to the user interface. At first glance, the program's user interface appeared well-designed and straightforward. The left side is for encrypting files and the right side for decrypting files. All we had to do was load the image that we wanted to use to encrypt our … Read more

Encrypting and decrypting important files is a cinch thanks to this program's easy-to-navigate user interface. Users of all skill levels will appreciate its solid performance. However, you'll need to obtain a trial key to extend the trial period from a short 10 days to the standard 30.

Ashampoo Magical Security's user interface is extremely basic, but functional. A tree-menu on the left side of the window displays your files and folders for easy browsing. Command buttons at the top of the window offer different means of encrypting and decrypting files. You can encrypt files as self-decrypting EXE … Read more

It's no secret that when judged by several popular Web browser speed tests, Internet Explorer 8 doesn't hold up well. Beta versions of IE 8 have been available to the general public for more than a year, and today's release of the stable build didn't include anything revolutionary.

Using the SunSpider JavaScript test, the official IE 8 scored 9849.4 ms on a Windows Vista machine with 2 GB of RAM and a 3.00 Ghz clock. This is significantly slower than most other major browsers. Not surprisingly, Microsoft claims (scroll down to Case Study Videos) … Read more

Internet Explorer 8 takes some long-needed strides to bring it up to speed with its competitors. It's more secure, with tab sandboxing and more aggressive malicious site warnings, and introduces some slick new features like Accelerators and Web slices.

Even with better support for Web standards, it's far from perfect. Check out what's hot and what's not in this First Look video.

Ten years after the creation of Salesforce.com, the future of cloud computing is not in doubt; it is just being heavily debated. Two opposing views of how cloud computing will play out--especially enterprise cloud computing--are making the rounds among thought leaders and customer decision makers alike. Interestingly, there is enough to question about both approaches that a third option may, in fact, gain importance.

What all sides agree on, however, is that some form of cloud computing is coming your way. As always, the devil is in the details.

Marc Benioff, Salesforce.com's "pull no punches" … Read more

This encryption tool lets you take your private files and folders with you so that you can access them at any time and any place. Though it took a few visits to the Help file to navigate e-Capsule Private Safe HD's interface, it successfully encrypted test data.

During e-Capsule Private Safe HD's installation process, we were asked to enter several pass phrases for the four levels of access: Private, Public, Admin, and Shred. While we appreciated the multiple layers of security, having to remember so many passwords was a pain. But the program can be saved to an … Read more