Realizing the growing popularity of cloud computing across the business landscape, Google has launched Apps Marketplace, an online store that will offer a range of cloud-based apps by Google and other third-party developers.

In an official blog post, Google said that as businesses worldwide are getting more familiarized with the advantages of cloud computing, they want more. “We’re often asked when we’ll offer a wider variety of business applications – from accounting and project management to travel planning and human resources management. But we certainly can’t and won’t do it all, and there are hundreds of business applications for which we have no particular expertise,” said Google.

Cloud computing works wonders for busineeses by “eliminating the hassles associated with purchasing, installing and maintaining hardware and software themselves.” Now at Google Apps Marketplace, businesses will have access to a full suite of cloud-based applications which they can browse and add the desired apps to their inventory. “Once installed to a company’s domain, these third-party applications work like native Google applications,” wrote Chris Vander Mey, product manager for the Google Apps Marketplace, in the company’s official blog. All the applications available at Apps Marketplace can be integrated with Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar and other services available in the productivity suite.

Google Apps Marketplace serves as developers’ haven where they can sell their web apps to over 25 million untapped Google Apps users, around 2 million of which are businesses. All it takes to install these applications is just a few clicks and the apps only require a single sign-on facilitated by OpenID, rather than dealing with separate credentials for each.

Google launched the Apps Marketplace with 50 featured applications serving to businesses and education customers that constitute the vast majority of Google Apps users. So for now the store is teeming with apps for things like project management, customer retention and administration.

Imagine booking everything from your airline trip to your hotel stay for yourself and family, even paying for it using nothing but your fingertips. On arrival at the hotel you are greeted by the reception clerk who confirms your hotel room using his fingers too and only uses his hands to give the room key to the bellhop. Quite likely you both have been interacting with a Microsoft Surface Screen.

We see touch technology in the use of mobile phones, sensors that are triggered by our palm prints and what not. But now touch technology has emerged as a new dimension in computing as well. It has replaced mouse and keyboard. Through touch we can directly interact with the computer using nothing but our own fingertips. No devices needed. Microsoft Surface technology makes all of this possible.

If we take into account our five senses, touch emerges as a very important sensation. For through it we can both feel and reach out. Coupled with our eyes and ears, for vision and sound, touch completes the way in which we can experience things as well as reach out to others. It helps us feel and react to things in the environment around us.

So what is Microsoft Surface, you ask? Microsoft Surface is a revolutionary multi-touch computing technology that responds to natural hand gestures and real-world objects, helping users interact with digital content in a natural, easy way. Using a large, horizontal user interface, Surface offers users an opportunity where many of them can collaborate to simultaneously interact with data and each other.

Microsoft Surface has refined the way we think about interactivity. Surface lets you take digital content with your hands and move information around the work area with simple gestures and touches. It also recognizes and interacts with objects placed on the screen, allowing users to move information between devices like cameras or mobile phones. All this means more fun filled, exciting socializing and computing like no one has ever experienced.

For businesses, Microsoft Surface has the potential to improve communication and be more efficient in how to deliver information and services to customers. The Microsoft Surface interface is easy to learn and the table software platform makes it easy to manage. These multi-touch, multi-user capabilities create incredibly collaborative experiences, making sharing and exploring information easier than ever.

Microsoft Surface uses cameras and image recognition in the infra-red spectrum to decipher different types of objects such as fingers, shapes or other tagged items. This input is then processed by the computer and the resulting interaction is shown using rear projection.

1. Direct Interaction. Users can take digital information with their hands and interact with content on-screen by touching and gestures.

2. Multi-User Experience. Surface’s large, horizontal, 30 inch display makes it easy for several people to gather and interact together.

3. Multi-Touch. Microsoft Surface can respond to not just one but many points of contact at the same time.

4. Object Recognition. Users can place physical objects on the screen to set off different types of digital responses – providing for a multitude of applications and the transfer of digital content to mobile devices.

History

The idea for developing a touch platform online technology started in 2001 when two Microsoft employees- one in research and one in Hardware- started brainstorming ideas for creating a touch platform. They initially supported the concept of creating a tabletop version of an online computer screen with touch computing capabilities. By mixing the physical world of touch with the virtual world of computing, they surmised that they would be able to create a richer interactive experience. This idea was put into development and by 2003 the first product was created by Microsoft’s New Consumer Products Group and presented before its Chairman Bill Gates. Following his approval, the first prototype was produced using an IKEA table, cutting through part of the tabletop and replacing it with a diffuser using architect vellum. Microsoft Surface’s unique ability to recognize physical objects placed on the table brings a new dimension to computing possibilities and application of the technology. The final version available for use today has seen 85 prior prototypes in the developmental phase developed by the Surface Computing Group. With the technological capabilities finalized by 2005, form was the remaining issue. Today the final form has been unveiled as a 30 inch display table that makes it easier for both individuals and small groups to interact. Microsoft Surface has been available since 2008 and you would most likely find it in banks, restaurants, hospitals or cruise ships. By bringing together both people and computers in this new way, Microsoft Surface enables the sharing of digital content in a new and unique manner. Hopefully it’s soon coming to a place near you.

Future Possibilities

Future developments will probably see the use of touch computing technology in homes offices and schools, on TV screens, walls and tabletops. For a glimpse of its possible applications, watch Microsoft’s Future Vision video here

Masterkey has recently made all its products available online in order to cater to an elevating global demand. Before going further ahead with the move, let’s have a retrospective look at Masterkey, Dubai’s largest and only real estate software provider.

Founded in Dubai in 2000, Masterkey has now become a household name in the real estate world not only in Dubai and the Middle East, but across the globe. Masterkey’s emergence in the midst of Dubai’s real estate boom, and the power and reliability of its real estate software brought it to the workplace of all real estate professionals of the region. The property industry was revolutionized by the software’s strong capabilities of automating all property-related work that had long been done manually. With a Masterkey product in their PCs, the real estate professionals were now able to rid of all the stacks of papers and files used to maintain records, property listings, transactional contracts etc. The software had virtually brought legal contracts, listings, pricings, transactional records and all related things to mere clicks of the mouse.

In the beginning, Masterkey focused on helping firms with property management and leasing. But as the time passed and market grew, Masterkey expanded to incorporate real estate sales into its product offerings in order to better serve the real estate industry. Through the years, Masterkey products have undergone continuous in-depth thinking, development, analysis, testing, retesting and facelifts, and have been enriched with loads of new features and functionality. Today Masterkey’s products cater to 100% needs of all real estate professionals. The company offers special solutions for developers, brokers and property managers. Three major products offered by Masterkey include the Professional, Premium and Masterplan models offering a solution to real estate professionals of all type and size.

The growing demand for all Masterkey products necessitated their availability for online purchase. Online availability was also necessary because Masterkey’s clientele was now expanding to other regions of the world outside the company’s primary market Dubai and the Middle East. The company contemplated the need of time and made all its products available for online purchase on its website. Apparently, the website didn’t undergo any noticeable design change and all that changed was just the addition of “Buy Now” button next to the products. “With the launch of the Buy Now/Autosetup functionality on our website, Masterkey is now truly capable of reaching out to the world’s real estate agencies, developers and property managers, to assist them to optimize their business with the leading real estate management software,” says Avinash Advani, CEO Masterkey.

Masterkey is one of the few companies that keep a powerful insight into the current market needs and trends so the act of bringing all its products for online purchase was simply inevitable. As Masterkey is geared up for further global expansion with an unwavering focus on its primary market i.e. Dubai and the Middle East, the company will not stop making drastic moves to facilitate more its valued customers. “As a company that thrives on the bleeding edge of technology, staying current with Web 2.0, and now Web 3.0 trends, it was absolutely essential to enable the purchase of Masterkey on our website, to offer our customers a completely online, on-demand experience. It’s fast, it’s easy, it’s secure”, adds Avinash.