Creating a new world of possibilities

IDC ranked IBM number one in worldwide market share for enterprise social software for the third consecutive year.

Read the report.

IBM® Connections is a leading social software platform that can help your organization engage the right people, accelerate innovation and deliver results. This integrated, security-rich platform helps people engage with networks of experts in the context of critical business processes. Now everyone can act with confidence and anticipate and respond to emerging opportunities.

IBM Connections deployment options include on premises, hybrid and in the cloud.

IBM Connections can help you:

• Make everything social and bring your brand to every experience. This social platform can integrate social into your business processes throughout your entire customer experience.
• Eliminate guesswork by providing full-featured social analytics and metrics to foster vital networks and communities.
• Unlock creativity everywhere with a social platform that is ready to be delivered to virtually any mobile device including tablets. IBM Connections provides a flexible and security-rich foundation for a comprehensive bring-your-own-device (BYOD) strategy.
• Integrate with IBM software and third-party applications to extend your enterprise social business platform.
• Integrate with Microsoft applications including Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft Windows Explorer, Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Office.

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Make everything social and bring your brand to every experience

• Activity streams provide a list of recent, relevant social and integrated business process activities occurring in your personal network or community. You can view and quickly take action on content and events in context, without navigating to another process or application.
• Embedded experience allows you to work in a single, familiar environment. This feature provides access to business critical actions from a wide variety of applications including third-party applications.
• IBM Connections Mail is a new, simple and compelling way to perform essential email and calendar tasks right from IBM Connections, your social software platform. IBM Connections Mail helps empower a 21st century workforce by creating a social email experience.
• Integrated email and calendar allows you to access both IBM Domino® and Microsoft Exchange messaging services. This feature brings mail and calendar into your social context by integrating key messaging and calendar views and functions into your social environment.

Eliminate guesswork

• Access a full-featured set of social analytics for Connections components in the form of reports and recommendations.
• Discover trends in content, social activity and expertise to help you make better, more informed decisions and deepen relationships.
• Discover who and what you need to know via recommendations.
• Drive positive and productive adoption to keep customers, partners and employees engaged, contributing and valued.

Unlock creativity everywhere

• Access all of your Connections data from mobile browsers and no-charge native apps.
• Use supported devices including Apple iOS 4.0 and 5.0, Android 2.2 and above, Blackberry OS6, Nokia (micro-browser only), and RIM Playbook (micro-browser only).
• Get your app at the Google Play store
• Get your app at the Apple App store
• Get your app at BlackBerry World

Integrate with IBM software and third-party applications

• Extend your social business solution by accessing people and information in many of your existing IBM software such as IBM Sametime® and IBM Notes® Social Edition.
• Connect an IBM Connections community to IBM Enterprise Content Management (ECM) systems including IBM FileNet® Content Manager and IBM Content Manager.
• Delight customers by infusing social into their experience of your brand through integration with the IBM Customer Experience Suite. The IBM Employee Experience Suite brings social capabilities to the employee web experience to enable effective collaboration.
• Use IBM Connections to collaborate with stakeholders in the software development process. Connections integrates with IBM Rational® Team Concert™ to help development teams work together more effectively.
• Add security and real-time policy management controls with Vantage for IBM Connections.

Best tablet 2013: our top 10 ranking Best tablet 2013: our top 10 ranking

We've rounded up the best tablets for 2013

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• Ultrabooks for business: our top 10
• CES 2014: what to expect from the biggest tech show of the year

What's the best tablet for 2013? Today's latest tablets compared and rated - constantly updated

Tablets are taking the world by storm. Just a few years ago they were an unknown for many people, but nowadays you've got more choice than you can shake a mildly agitated badger at.

And with choice comes decisions - difficult decisions. Do you eschew Apple's high prices, join the Android brigade and find the best iPad alternative? Or jump on board Apple's lovetrain, and use one of the most popular tablets on the planet?

We've put the new iPad mini 2 with Retina Display and LG G Pad 8.3through our in-depth review process, so check out below to see where they land in the list.

The Amazon Kindle Fire HDX is incoming, so stay tuned for that - we've got high hopes for the internet retailers latest foray into affordable but high-powered tablets.

We've made it easy for you and pulled together the top 10 tablets of the moment available in the UK.

For those of you who are still new to the whole tablet game, let us fill you in on what one is:

In general terms, today's tablet computers sport touchscreens ranging in size from 7- up to 13-inches. These dimensions are by no means static, and boundaries can be blurred as smartphones get larger displays, a la the 5.7-inch Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and huge 6.44-inch Sony Xperia Z Ultra.

Physical keyboards are also a rarity, but there are the exceptions such as the Asus Transformer Pad Infinity and Mircosoft Surface Pro 2 which come with a keyboard dock for the tablets.

Apps

As with today's best smartphones, applications play a big role on tablets – once you've decided which of these tablets if right for you, check out our top app lists so you can get your fill of Temple Run, update your friends on Facebook and read the latest news, all on a bigger screen.

• Top 200 best Android apps
• Top 200 best iPad apps

If none of the top 10 tablets here take your fancy then head on over to ourtablet reviews pages, where you'll find in-depth reviews for many more models.

Let us know your thoughts on the top 10 (and whether you think we've got the order wrong) in the comment box below.

10. Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0

The Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 arrived on the scene with the iPad mini firmly set in its sights and while it gave a strong showing the Android tablet, complete with S Pen, didn't manage to hit the same heights as its Apple-made rival.

That's not to say the Galaxy Note 8.0 isn't a good tablet as it's a light, highly portable device and there's no denying that its display is far better than that of the iPad Mini.

It's solidly built, with expandable memory - the S-Pen has clearly been enhanced to make this a major selling point, plus we love the IR blaster and its media capabilities. That said, it's set to be blown out of the water by the iPad mini 2.

Quick verdict

The Galaxy Note 8.0 is a good device. There are better out there for the money, and with an arguably better design as well. However, for those that like the S Pen as a tool, it's a great offering, and packaged in a more portable offering.

• Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 review

9. Tesco Hudl

What's this, a supermarket making a tablet? Whatever next, Argos making one too? Oh wait... that aside, the Hudl tablet is a super cheap, £119 Android tablet which puts other £100 slates to shame.

Given it's price the Hudl is very well-specced, sports a solid build and a pretty decent 7-inch display. Stock Android will please those who are not fans of the various interface overlays which exist, and the addition of a microSD slot is useful.

Of course the Hudl isn't going to blow you away with super slick operation, although the quad-core processor means there's a chunk of power under the hood. But the less said about the camera, the better.

Quick verdict

If you can stretch to £200, we'd still recommend the Google Nexus 7 as the best pound-for-pound tablet on the market. If you're looking at spending closer to half that, though, we can't see any compact tablet out there that tops the Hudl.

• Tesco Hudl review

8. iPad mini

Apple's former CEO Steve Jobs famously slammed small tablets a few years back, leading many to believe the Cupertino-based firm would never dabble in the budget end of the market, but here we are.

In terms of consistency in the tablet market Apple cannot be matched, as it now lays claim to the top two places in our top 10, although the iPad mini is no longer the jewel in an already glistening crown - it's already been usurped by the upgraded Google Nexus 7 and its successor.

Now we have all the Retina magic we'd hoped for on the new Mini edition, the old Mini isn't a bad device - we'd just recommend you heavily look at the newer model before you plump for this one.

Quick verdict

When it landed we dubbed the iPad mini "the best iPad Apple has ever created", and while the iPad Air now claims that title now, this pint sized slate is still an OK choice on a budget.

If the screen puts you off, fear not, for the iPad mini 2 with Retina display is now out - but at least it hasn't shoved the Mini off the list altogether.

• iPad mini review
• Compare Apple iPad mini prices

7. Microsoft Surface Pro 2

*Ding, ding* Round 2. Microsoft's second generation Windows 8 slate is here, building on its predecessor and providing a well rounded tablet-come-laptop experience.

In terms of portability the Surface Pro 2 won't be winning any awards - it's big and it's heavy, but if you're looking for a powerful business tablet then the Pro 2 is one of the best (if not the best) around.

Microsoft has improved the Pro 2 in a numbers of ways from the original Surface Pro, with an updated Windows 8.1 OS, beefy Intel processor, improved battery life and two position kick-stand.

Quick verdict

The Surface Pro 2 doesn't offer the best natural tablet experience, but if you're looking for a device which bridges the gap between laptop and tablet then this is one of the best on the market.

With a handy QWERTY keyboard, large screen and Microsoft's Office suite it's an obvious business machine, but also offers something rather different to the iPad and Android slates.

It's expensive though, so be ready to fork out at least £700 for the basic version - plus you'll need a keyboard on top of that.

• Microsoft Surface Pro 2 review

6. Google Nexus 10

The 10.1 display is one of the biggest talking points on the Google Nexus 10. At 299 pixels per inch it's the highest resolution 10-inch tablet display on the planet - take that Apple, and your Retina screens.

If you're looking for something which is packing even more pixels you'll need to trade in screen size for the 7-inch, 323ppi Nexus 7.

It's a great performer too. Other than taking a while to process panoramic photos we never felt like it was struggling to keep up. It's fast and smooth whatever you throw at it.

Sure it may not be as stunning to look at, or as well built as an iPad, and the lack of expandable memory will irk some, but overall the Nexus 10 gives you a quality, big-screen Android experience which is not to be sniffed at.

Quick verdict

The Google Nexus 10 is easily one of the best Android tablets on the market and while it's not quite as fantastic value for money as the Nexus 7, it certainly gives Apple's high-priced iPad Air a run for its money.

For the price you're paying, you won't be disappointed. Be warned though, a new Nexus 10

Microsoft may unify Windows Phone, Windows RT in the future Confirms there isn't enough room for three versions

When you can't beat 'em, join 'em

Related stories

• Surface RT owners back in business as Windows 8.1 RT officially returns
• Microsoft crows new Surfaces are selling out, but numbers are missing
• Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 tablets released into the wild

There isn't enough room in town for three separate versions of the Windows operating system, admitted Microsoft's Executive Vice President of Devices Julie Larson-Green.

"We have the Windows Phone OS. We have Windows RTand we have full Windows. We're not going to have three," she confirmed last week at a UBS Global Technology Conference.

Reading between the versions, Microsoft sounds as if it's looking for a unified, mobile-friendly edition of its operating system, while keeping the more intensive desktop version.

Two months ago, the company hinted at just that, suggesting Windows RT could make its way into phones.

'We should not have called it Windows'

Microsoft learned several valuable lessons from the ill-fated launch of Windows RT, and it paid heavily with a costly write-down of Surface RT tablets.

"I think we didn't explain that super-well. I think we didn't differentiate the devices well enough," Larson-Green surmised

"They looked similar. Using them is similar. It just didn't do everything that you expected Windows to do. So there's been a lot of talk about it should have been a rebranding."

She went as far as to say that Microsoft should have called it something other than "Windows."

"We should not have called it Windows. How should we have made it more differentiated? I think over time you'll see us continue to differentiate it more."

Whether or not the product of Windows Phone and Windows RT takes that rebranding route seems to be up in the air at the Redmond, Wash.-basedcompany right now.

The new path

Toward the end of her comments, Larson-Green noted that Microsoft's path includes a more defined mobile operating system. One that's different from the tablets like the Surface Pro 2 running full Windows 8.1.

"We do think there's a world where there is a more mobile operating system that doesn't have the risks to battery life, or the risks to security," she said.

She complimented Apple's efforts in this area, saying "you look at iPad in particular, and it's a turnkey, closed system. It doesn't degrade over time.

"It doesn't get viruses. It's not as flexible, you can't do as much with it, but it's a more seamless experience, even though more simplified.

"It also comes at the cost of flexibility," she concluded. "So we believe in that vision and that direction and we're continuing down that path."

• Read our ongoing Xbox One review

21 brilliant iOS 7 tips and tricks 21 brilliant iOS 7 tips and tricks IN DEPTH The little things in the new mobile OS that make the big difference

Make Apple's new OS work harder for you

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The iOS 7 release date has arrived and while the jury may still be out on iOS 7's radical redesign - for what it's worth we love it, with a few reservations - there's no denying that it's the friendliest version and most powerful of iOS yet.

But there's more to iOS 7 than headline features such as Control Center, Airdrop and iTunes Radio: some of our favourite improvements are little things that make our everyday lives that little bit more pleasant.

These are our favourites - let us know yours in the comments.

Check out our iOS 7 review for the full lowdown!

1. Camera: shoot in burst mode

The redesigned Camera app has a nifty trick up its sleeve: if you want to shoot in burst mode, taking multiple shots in quick succession, just click and hold the volume-up button.

2. Multitasking: quit multiple apps

You probably know that you can quit running apps by double-tapping the Home button and flicking the offending app upwards, but you might not have tried it with multiple fingers to force-quit more than one app at a time. We've made it work with three apps on our iPhone, although doing the same on an iPad means getting your nose involved too.

3. Notifications: begone!

When you receive a new notification, you can still swipe right to open the appropriate app - but if you just want rid of it you can now swipe up to hide it.

4. All new balancing act

iOS 7 is bad news for novelty app developers: not only has the Control Center killed the market for flashlight apps, but Compass has done the same for spirit level apps too.

If you launch the app you'll see the familiar dots at the bottom of the screen that indicate there's a second screen: swipe it and you'll see a spirit level for all your checking-things-are-flat needs.

5. Phone, FaceTime and Messages: block contacts

Does someone have your number and you wish they didn't? Successfully avoid exes, creditors and the angry husbands and wives of your lovers with iOS 7's excellent blocking features. Add the number to your Contacts, scroll down to the bottom of the screen and tap Block This Caller to refuse incoming calls, messages (including SMS and MMS) and FaceTime calls.

6. Messages: see the timestamps

iOS 7 likes to keep things nice and minimalist, but if key information isn't visible there's a good chance it's just a swipe away - so for example in Messages, you won't see timestamps against each SMS, MMS or iMessage. Want to know when they were sent? Swipe left.

7. Apps: swipe backwards

This little tip is a handy time-saver: when you're finished reading an email or message, or fiddling with Settings, or exploring a Music playlist, swipe backwards to return to the previous page. If you're at the first level (such as your list of mailboxes in Mail, or the first Settings screen) nothing will happen.

8. Location Services: see where you've been

iOS 7 keeps an eye on where you go to help it personalise features such as the Notification Center, and to help improve the accuracy of Maps. If you fancy a look you'll find it in Settings > Privacy > Location Services > System Services > Frequent Locations. You'll see a list and a map, with blue circles showing where you've been and when. You can clear the history from this page, and if you think it's a little creepy you can turn it off from the System Services page.

9. Newsstand: put it away!

We like Newsstand, but we don't like the way it can't be stuck in a folder like Apple's other stock apps. Hallelujah for iOS 7, then, because at last that absurd restriction has been removed.

10 . Settings: make iOS 7 easier on the eye

We like the new interface, but it isn't for everyone. If you have problems with your sight or just want to make iOS more legible, you'll find some useful settings in Settings > General > Accessibility. You can make all system text bold, increase the size of text in apps that support Apple's Dynamic Type, scale down motion effects such as the parallax effect or invert the colours to make iOS 7 look like a 1980s electro-pop album cover.

How to change your facebook theme......

Bored with the same BLUE&WHITE facebook theme This is a very cool trick to change theme of your facebookprofile and make it cool ... just look at my facebook page  below ... is'nt it looking cool..! huuha now i'll explain you how to do it in this post ....

BEFORE INSTALLING THEME

  

AFTER INSTALLING THEME

Requirement: The basic requirement for this to work is to have Mozilla Firefox 3.5 or higher

Steps To change facebook theme: The following steps should be carried out to successfully change Facebook theme.

•     Open Mozilla Firefox and install  'Stylish' addon

•    Follow the basic steps and install the addon.

•     Restart Firefox after successfully installing the stylish addon.

•     Login to your Facebook Account and click on the small 'S' button in your Firefox status bar. 

•     Click on "Find Styles for this Site" to open a new tab with free themes to use for Facebook.

•     Click on any theme and a preview will be shown.

•     If everything is fine in the previewed theme, click on "Install with Stylish" button at the top right corner of the page

.

•     A dialog box will open.

•     Click on Install in the dialog box.

Now your facebook will look different depends upon which theme you selected. 

like I selected this One...cool naa..! enjoy..

Lock a Folder With Password Using Free Folder Protector

All of us have some files and folders that we consider private. They can be anything from our business documents to pictures of friends and family. These are files that we don't want other people using our computer to know about. As Windows offers no way to protect our private information, most of us get in awkward situations when these files are discovered by unwanted people.

Surely, you can store this information in a hidden folder. The only problem is that anyone can easily search the contents of a hidden folder using Windows Search itself.

The only viable solution is storing this content in a password protected folder so that only those people knowing the password of the folder can access it. There are many folder locking programs available online but the problem is that most of the good ones are paid. Even if you do manage to get a good free one, you will be looked at suspiciously when people see a folder locker in the list of your installed programs.

If you too find yourself in a similar situation, you can try Folder Protector, a password protector for Windows folders that is not only free but is also portable meaning that it does not need to be installed. Just click on the exe file and the program will start running. I have created this program based on suggestions and feature requests that I have received by email over the last two years.

Folder Protector

Folder Protector offers each user a protected folder that can only be opened by entering the password in FolderProtector. Unlike most security programs, Folder Protector is small in size (nearly 58KB) and does not show the folder that it is protecting. This gives an additional advantage that people who don't know the password do not have a target to try and hack their way into. As the software is portable, you can hide it or even delete it after protecting your folder and no one will have a clue that it was used. Then whenever you need to access protected files, you can re-download the program from this page, enter the password and access your protected files. 

Download Folder Protector

Download for Windows 8, Windows 7 and Windows Vista

Download for Windows XP


How to use Folder Protector?
When you run Folder Protector for the first time, the program will ask you for a password that you want to use. Enter a password that you can remember as this will be the password to your protected folder.

After entering the password, the program will open a folder named SecuredFILES. This is your protected folder. You can add all your private files in this folder. This folder is located at the Desktop. After adding all your files, you may close this folder. 

Then, you can use the menu in the program to lock your folder. To lock the folder, type lock as your action. After successfully locking the folder, FolderProtector will display that the folder is locked.

Unlocking the protected folder is easy. Just type unlock as your action. Then the program will ask you to enter your password. Upon successfully entering the password, the program will display the contents of your protected folder.

Changing the Password: Just type change as your action. The program will ask you for your current password. Upon successful entry of the current password, the program will ask for your new password and change it instantly.

Acknowledgment: This software has been made possible only through the suggestions of readers of this blog, especially Ernell Albert Galido for his idea of using a menu based interface.

Windows Compatibility: This program has been successfully tested on Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP.

Support and Development
I will continue to develop this software further. So, your suggestions are invited. If you face any problem while using this software, you can use our support page and expect a quick reply.

Cool JavaScript Tricks: Edit Websites in Browser (Live)

Imagine a world where you are a God and have ultimate control on what happens and more importantly, how it happens. Seems too good a dream. Now it has come true, at least for the online world.

Using this trick, you will be able to edit any webpage live in your browser as if it was a Wiki and change the details according to your wish. Yes, you read that right. You can edit Google or even Facebook for that matter right in your browser and that too without requiring any technical know-how or getting deep into hacking and cracking.

Here is an example picture demonstrating the Google Homepage edited by me to say that I own Google.

This is just an example. You can use it for anything like showing wrong traffic stats or for fooling people by showing that someone said something about them on Facebook or Twitter. It depends only on your creativity. But I would advise you to stay ethical and use it for entertainment purposes only.

(Mozilla Firefox does not support this. If you use Firefox, you can use the bookmarklets given at the end of this post. If you use Google Chrome and the code does not seem to work, precede it with "javascript:" without quotes.)

To use this trick, all you need to do is just copy the code given below and paste it in your address bar after you have opened the website you wish to edit. And start editing.

javascript:document.body.contentEditable%20=%20'true';%20document.designMode='on';%20void%200

You can capture a screenshot by pressing the Print Screen key or by using the Snipping Tool if you use Windows 7 or Windows Vista. If you wish to again make the website non-editable to give a more authentic look, copy and paste the code given below in the address bar after you are done editing (does not work in Firefox).

javascript:document.body.contentEditable%20=%20'false';%20document.designMode='off';%20void%200

Or, alternatively you can use the following bookmarklets by dragging them to your Bookmarks bar.

1.  Edit this Website

2.  Done Editing

The editing that you do will however be temporary as it is not server-sided. You can also save the modified website through your browser by File>Save. This works on all common web browsers including Chrome, Firefox, Opera and Internet Explorer.