Automation

Reaching all the folks you want to maintain contact with is much easier with this full-featured e-mail application. Gammadyne Mailer's interface closely resembles other e-mail clients, with a large window divided into three panes. The layout is familiar, so the large number of colorful icons along the top of the window shouldn't intimidate novices. Using the program is simple: you select the type of action to perform, and a wizard executes your choices. The default font is rather small and could be hard to see for older users or those with vision problems, but most folks should have … Read more

So far in this series, I've described why the very form of application infrastructure delivery will change in the coming years, and why both infrastructure and software development will play a major role in that. These are powerful forces that are already at work, and you are already seeing their effects on the way enterprise IT and consumer Web applications are being operated.

There is one more key force that will change the way we acquire, build, and consume enterprise application functionality and data, however. It is the very reason that enterprise IT exists. I am speaking, of course, … Read more

QuicKeys is a long-lived automation utility designed to save you time by letting you convert tedious, repetitive tasks--everything from opening apps to copying files to typing your e-mail address--into quick, painless one-step shortcuts. Although there are numerous options for macro programs on the Mac (including cheaper and even free ones, like OS X's built-in Automator), QuicKeys strikes a good balance of providing an intuitive, visual interface with a veritable programming language that can handle the most complex tasks and workflows.

You can use a wide variety of triggers, with customizable "scopes" (for shortcuts that work in a … Read more

Google has sold its Radio Automation business to WideOrbit, a provider of business management software for media companies, the search giant announced Wednesday.

Included in the sale were all the assets of Google's radio automation business, including Google Radio Automation, Maestro, and SS32.

Radio automation helps broadcasters manage and program music, ads, and other content through customizable software. Maestro and SS32 are two specific automation systems used by many radio stations.

Started in 1999, San-Francisco-based WideOrbit is considered one of the leading business software providers for broadcast and cable companies. WideOrbit offers several products for media outlets, designed to … Read more

Perfect Keyboard Lite allows users to easily record text and macros to be used later on, saving time for users who find themselves typing the same things over and over. Even novice macro users will be able to benefit from this intuitive program.

The program's interface is clean and easy to navigate; it should be easy for users who know anything about macros to get started. For those who don't, the built-in Help file provides plenty of guidance, including a section on macro language basics. Users who only need to use the program for text purposes--to insert blocks … Read more

VisualCron is a powerful program that allows users to automate a variety of computer functions. The program's many options are well-organized, making it easy to set up and run even complex tasks.

VisualCron's interface is attractive and intuitive. Users create a new job and then customize everything about it: what task or tasks it performs, what triggers it, what conditions it runs under, and how users are notified. Users move through a tabbed window for each job, choosing the proper settings. All of the jobs are listed neatly on the program's main screen, with other options displayed … Read more

I got into the whole "smart house," home automation (HA) thing about 11 years ago when reading about how I could get some of the lights inside and outside my house to be controlled automatically. I did some research, and a friend recommended an installer. The timing was perfect, because we were renovating a 100-year-old house that was badly in need of everything. We stripped it to the bones, which was a real treat when it came to running Cat 5 and video cable throughout the whole place. This was before Wi-Fi, before iPods, before LCD TV screens! … Read more

My apologies, readers. I had a very busy June with travel to Los Angeles and planning for the marketing of CBS' new season. So, here is some quick catch up.

On the tech front: I've been testing Windows 7 on my home machine. Love it. I got a Verizon MiFi so I can create hot spots everywhere and don't have to pay those ridiculous hotel Web access charges. I love that. I upgraded my iPhone software. Love it. I switched to Avast Virus protection for home machines and home servers. Love it! I went to E3 in Los … Read more

Reductive Labs, creator of the popular open-source IT automation project Puppet, has raised $2 million in Series A funding from True Ventures, the firm that also invested in (then) open-source marketing automation vendor Loopfuse.

Reductive plans to use the funding, which was announced Tuesday, to build out the functionality of Puppet, a move that won't win it any friends among competitors like Hewlett-Packard's OpsWare.

It's a good time for the company to be raising money. Counting such heavyweights as Google, Digg, Twitter, the New York Stock Exchange, Barclays Capital, Oracle, Sun Microsystems, Red Hat, Harvard Law School, … Read more