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A Google executive told an audience of managers from several federal agencies yesterday that they should expect Google Buzz to be in their enterprise GMail accounts within the next few months. This is the first time sine the launch that we have heard a public statement about Google Buzz entering the enterprise. It comes as Google Buzz asked users once again again to double-check that Buzz is set up just the way they like it. Sponsor Google Buzz is built into GMail, providing a real-time activity stream. At its launch, The service stood considerable criticism from people who came to find that they were inadvertently exposing their email accounts to the public. Opting out was not entirely clear. In response, Google updated Google Buzz to make it easier to opt-out but for many it did not go far enough. Criticism continued and within four days has changed its policies, replacing opt-out features, most of all, replacing auto-following with suggestions for people to follow. Yesterday, according to The Hill , Mike Bradshaw, Google's head of federal sales said at a cloud computing event in Washington, DC that the issues with Google Buzz have been corrected: "We got a bit of a ding by the press," he said. "Fortunately we were able to correct it and in four days changed the policies." That's one way to look at it. He portrays the incident as a public relations issue, not as a flaw deep in the product that raises considerable privacy concerns. Privacy issues are of primary concern to federal agencies that have been concerned about how information can be protected in a cloud computing environment. The issue has caused some hesitation and slowing in adoption. We expect that Google will need to push its education efforts into high gear for Google Buzz. Customers will have to be convinced that their enterprise GMail accounts are entirely protected from any inadvertent transparencies that could expose a person's account. Opting out will just not fly in the enterprise. Discuss

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Google Executive Says Google Buzz Coming Soon to the Enterprise

When will the iPad deliver in the enterprise? We first asked this question on Feb 11th when we interviewed the Citrix team . At the time, we gave it a thumbs-up as the Citrix team had good answers for all of our questions. Today, with the launch of the iPad, Citrix has delivered on its promise of making Citrix Receiver (powered by XENApps) for iPad available as a day one app in the iPad app store. Seeing is believing, so today we took a look at the new application on the new device. Sponsor Citrix isn't shy about the opportunity for iPad. The demonstration they shared focused on one of the toughest IT nuts to crack, health care applications in the hospital. From what we see, with some reasonable configuration, the iPad, with Citrix Receiver installed, is ready to read and write health care records today. Citrix Reciever uses software virtualization to bring backoffice applications all sorts of smart clients, including Windows, Windows Phone, iPhone, and iPad. Here is a demonstration offered by Citrix on the Citrix Receiver on iPad. Today, the ReadWriteWeb team installed the Citrix Reciever for iPad app, here's first impressions. Real-time setup . The app installed perfectly, but setting up the Citrix account takes 15 minutes. In our real-time world, we found ourselves downloading other apps and almost forgot to check back. A minor issue, but perhaps something to consider for enterprise deployments. Gestures . In the world of iPad, point and click converts to pinch and slide. As noted in our earlier post, Apple has done a lot of the heavy lifting to get parity with mouse and finger controls. Still, we asked the question of whether gestures mapped, our first impression is that all the basics are there. Custom icons for each application session . We reported that this might be an important feature. Citrix acknowledged it being part of the implementation. Today, we see that this part of the framework enabled by Apple and supported by Citrix. Each enterprise application can be dropped onto the iPad home screen and it will have a custom icon per your setup. Streaming . One of the considerations for all software virtualization is the ability to stream real-time changes from screen to screen. In the demonstration above, we see examples of real-time application heart visualization. This capability seems to be a key for leveraging existing investments and to avoid having to re-build these applications for iPad. Citrix has done some heavy lifting to prepare iPad for the enterprise by focusing on its strength in preparing back office enterprise applications to be available to smart clients like iPad. Now, the big question. Are you preparing your enterprise for iPad? Do you have questions or wish-list items for the team at Citrix? Credit: Frederic Lardinois RWW's brave iPad owner who wrestled control of his new day-one device from his family to do this evaluation. Discuss

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iPad: Citrix Brings Windows 7 Back to the Future

Our top story this week was about Gmail becoming an app platform. Oh right, and some other thing called the iPad. Read on for our coverage and analysis. We also continued our exploration of the significant Internet trends of 2010, including Real-Time Web, Mobile Web and Internet of Things. Note: We've refreshed the format for our longest running feature, the Weekly Wrapup. It now focuses more explicitly on the key trends that ReadWriteWeb is tracking in 2010, as well as giving you the highlights from the leading story of the week. Let us know your thoughts on the new format. Sponsor Story of the Week: Gmail Becomes an App Platform Gmail Becomes an App Platform: Google Adds OAuth to IMAP Coming Soon to Gmail Chat: File Transfer 15 iPad Apps We Can't Wait to Download The iPad in Education: Colleges Give iPads to All Incoming Students Twitter Gets a New Homepage - It's a Whole Thing More coverage and analysis from ReadWriteWeb Announcing the ReadWriteWeb Mobile Summit: Early bird pricing ends March 31! Hurry, register now and save $100. Early bird pricing ends March 31! Join us for the ReadWriteWeb Mobile Summit on May 7 in Mountain View, California as we explore the latest mobile development trends, both the technology and the emerging business applications. Be a part of the discussion on geo-location services , augmented reality , native app vs. browser-based , commerce and marketing , mobile social networking and the Internet of Things. Sponsorship enquiries: sales@readwriteweb.com , Register now for the ReadWriteWeb Mobile Summit and get early bird rates - only $295. Mobile Web Location-Based Social Networks: Delightful, Dangerous or Somewhere in Between? What's a "Universal" iPad App and How Do You Use It? iPad's Top Apps and Early Trends More Mobile Web coverage Augmented Reality Practical Application is the Golden Ticket of Augmented Reality More Augmented Reality coverage Augmented Reality for Marketers and Developers: Our Newest Research Report We're pleased to announce ReadWriteWeb's latest premium report, Augmented Reality for Marketers and Developers: Analysis of the Leaders, the Challenges and the Future . This report will help you develop a sophisticated understanding of Augmented Reality (AR), the mobile and Web technology that places data on top of a user's view of the physical world. The research included will help you decrease your AR development time to market by learning from the first wave of early adopters. AR offers a new marketing and product paradigm for a high impact, high value customer experience. More than 1,000 AR campaigns were kicked-off last year and we expect to see many more in 2010. In this report, we profile key AR development companies, their campaigns as well as development lessons learned. For more information or to buy the report, visit here . Internet of Things NFC: Never Mind Credit Cards, Pay With Your Phone More Internet of Things coverage Real-Time Web Twitter Highlights Popular Tweets, Goes Live With API More Real-Time Web coverage . Don't miss the next wave of opportunity on the Web supported by real-time technology! Get ReadWriteWeb's report, The Real-Time Web and its Future . Check Out The ReadWriteWeb iPhone App We recently launched the official ReadWriteWeb iPhone app . As well as enabling you to read ReadWriteWeb while on the go or lying on the couch, we've made it easy to share ReadWriteWeb posts directly from your iPhone, on Twitter and Facebook. You can also follow the RWW team on Twitter, directly from the app. We invite you to download it now from iTunes . ReadWriteStart Our channel ReadWriteStart , sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark , is dedicated to profiling startups and entrepreneurs. Looking for the Next Big Idea? Unleash the Beast! TechStars' Andrew Hyde Launches Freelance Marketplace Startup The Art of the VC Pitch: A Roundup of Advice from 6 VCs ReadWriteEnterprise Our channel ReadWriteEnterprise is devoted to 'enterprise 2.0' and using social software inside organizations. FourSquare for the Enterprise: Give it 2 Years, Max Microsoft Testing OfficeTalk - Microblogging Service Much Like Twitter ReadWriteCloud Our channel ReadWriteCloud , sponsored by VMware and Intel, is dedicated to Virtualization and Cloud Computing. User Ignorance Causes Cloud Security Leak; Accounts, Passwords Revealed Rulers of the Cloud: A Multi-Tenant Semantic Cloud is Forming & EMC Knows that Data Matters Earth Hour: Is it Time to Virtualize the Electrical Grid? That's a wrap for another week! Enjoy your weekend everyone. Discuss

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Weekly Wrap-up: Gmail OAuth, Twitter Homepage, iPads Galore, And More...

What are the security issues with the iPad and how is it suited as a device for developing enterprise scale applications? Those are the questions we posed to Ken Westin, the founder and CEO of ActiveTrak . Westin is a a security expert. His company develops a software and a service to track the location of a device if lost or stolen. In June, the company is introducing an enterprise version of its technology that will also go by the name ActiveTrak. Sponsor The iPad will become a device that we will undoubtedly see in the enterprise. It fits into the same space as a smartphone or social computing technology, applicable to personal and work life. Neville Hobson on the NextWeb cites a survey by Sybase about the interest in smart phones for the workplace and its correlation to the iPad. But Westin says the iPad does have its own set of limitations that makes it an issue for development of enterprise security grade applications: The iPhone and iPad software has built-in PPTP, IPSec, Cisco VPN software . But more companies are moving to SSL VPN, which is not supported by the iPad. In time, though, a client should be developed for the product. The device may be able to access the domain, however it is different from being a domain member as an administrator cannot manage it, enforce group policies or push patches or apps to it. Westin is supported by other security experts who cite Apple's lack of interest in security issues: "The general consensus is that Apple continues to do only the absolute minimum to address enterprise security and supportability requirements," noted Andrew Storms, Director of Security Operations for nCircle. `We haven't seen any new enterprise iPhone security features from Apple since the summer of 2009 when they introduced their new hardware level encryption, which was almost immediately subverted. This is not the kind of behavior security professionals want to see in vendors.' Recent events seem to illustrate that point. Security researches were able to compromise a fully-updated iPhone 3GS at the recent CanSecWest Pwn2Own competition. Storms warned me "If the iPad has the same OS as the iPhone then enterprises are going to be even more concerned about the data on this device.' " Westin said it is the background processing in particular that makes the iPad less appealing for ActiveTrak. For instance, its application runs in the background on an Android device. An iPad, and for that matter an iPhone, does not provide that capability. His company does provide a free application for the iPhone. It's free but it can only be activated if someone turns it on. To maneuver around the issue, Westin said they disguise the app button as a Safari icon, which activates the application. That's when the tracking starts by triangulation techniques using WiFi and GPS. Westin is a fan of Apple. He uses a MacBook Pro. He says developer tools are better on the iPhone and it has a great community. But, Apple wants it all. It controls the hardware, the software and the content. That's a concern for the enterprise that wants to adopt the iPad. Such control over content is a problem as it gives Apple the power to wipe an application off a device without permission. That may seem unlikely in an enterprise setting but the possibility does lead to hesitation. Further, Apple may make great high end products for consumers but it does not have the equivalent of a Blackberry server that can control the device and its content. Instead, the individual must have a MobileMe account. This can become a coordination nightmare for IT if the enterprise has 5,000 people who need an iPad. Westin said ActiveTrak will wait until the iPad platfrom opens up more before developing. Discuss

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Is the iPad Secure Enough for the Enterprise?

If you believe in matches made in heaven then you will understand why the new partnership between Quova and SimpleGeo is just that. Developers can now harness the power of Quova's complex IP geolocation technology within SimpleGeo's framework for creating location apps. Quova announced the partnership today at Where 2.0 in San Jose, and said it will broaden its customer base and provide new contexts for its data. In return, SimpleGeo wins by giving developers a more complete solution for geolocation. Sponsor Quova specializes in IP Geolocation - a process that uses the IP address of a person's computer or mobile phone gateway to determine that person's location. The results are less specific than those provided by a GPS-enabled smartphone or WiFi, but is often the best available location data for many users. The data can be used to target content by region, or localize online searches. Quova has historically focused on the enterprise market, which is highly sophisticated and able to consume raw IP location data. SimpleGeo is a cloud-based geodata company that has been building its geolocation services since May 2009. The company, founded by Joe Stump and Matt Galligan , is unique in its focus on location-based services. It announced the availability of a data storage service, an iTunes-like data marketplace, and an API to developers today at Where 2.0. These offerings are described by SimpleGeo as a "ready-to-use platform that makes it easy to store, scale and discover geodata for use on the Web and in applications." "After discovering Quova¹s offerings, it became obvious that we needed to include their IP Geolocation data in our ready-to-use location infrastructure," said Matt Galligan, cofounder and CEO of SimpleGeo. "Quova's data will enable developers using SimpleGeo to locate their users easily, regardless of access to GPS or WiFi data. The partnership just made sense." Essentially, the partnership creates a geolocation "failover" system for developers. Applications and services can select the best available source for location data. The level of accuracy ranges from GPS smartphones, at the high end, to Wi-Fi data from

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Where 2.0: Quova and SimpleGEO Make App Building Easier