The story is all too common.

Tired of clearing his inbox all the time because he only has 100MB of storage, an employee signs up for a Gmail account and forwards all his office e-mail to his private mailbox, which gives him more than 7GB of space and never bugs him to delete anything.

Separately, another employee, who hates it that his company does not let him read e-mail on the go, also forwards his office e-mail to a Google account, which can be retrieved easily on his iPhone.

The result of such exploits, common in so many organisations, is a breach of security and, in some industries where information has to be kept under lock and key, a breach of their compliance with local laws.

“Shadow IT”, however, is not only caused by rogue users in an organisation, but can be part of a poorly-planned cloud rollout that could compromise a company’s security and compliance, according to a survey conducted by HP Enterprise Services.

While cloud computing offers agility and fast response, the study revealed a worry among top executives that a “free rein” could lead to users tapping on IT resources that jeopardise the organisation they work for. …

The next instalment of the popular first-person shooter, Crysis, is set to hit the stores in Spring 2013, with the player taking on the role of Prophet, the elite solider from previous instalments now on a revenge mission against aliens and human goons from an evil corporation seeking world domination.

Fans of the cult series will be happy to know that the setting could be a cross between the two previous instalments – parts of New York will be overgrown with vegetation because of a land grab by the evil Cell Corporation.

According to a release by German developer Crytek today, the New York setting will be a “veritable urban rainforest teeming with overgrown trees, dense swamplands and raging rivers.”

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A couple of weeks ago, we got our hands on the HTC One X, the Taiwanese phone maker’s best effort in a while and probably the Android phone to beat right now.

We can now say that the One V, a low-cost model launched together with the flagship One X, is also highly impressive. Indeed, with a solid build, useful Sense 4.0 interface and a very fast camera, the One V feels like a premium phone belying its entry-level price tag. …

It had to come in pink sooner or later.  Samsung’s surprise hit of the season, the Galaxy Note, is arriving in town this Saturday, dressed in pink and following in the footsteps of the smaller Galaxy S II.

The pink Galaxy Note will cost the same - S$948 - as the white and black versions sold in Singapore so far. Adding pink to the mix surely won’t hurt sales, as the Korean phone maker readies its upcoming high-end line-up in the coming months for a mid-year launch.

Despite having a rather large 5.3-inch screen for a phone, the Galaxy Note has surprised many sceptics by selling some 5 million units in the first five months. In Singapore, it’s a hit with the ladies, thanks to a stylus that lets them sketch anything they like easily on the go.

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Over the weekend, against the advice of many, I bought my dad a Nokia Lumia 800.

I know, not many phone buffs are giving Windows Phone devices much chance after a somewhat disappointing holiday season last year, when the Finnish cellphone maker was estimated to have sold a modest million or so Lumia phones.

But it is a little early to write off Windows Phone devices, and they can still go places, if only they can get some traction. My dad had bought an LG Optimus 7 a couple of years ago and it had provided a nice, easy way to join the smartphone bandwagon with the operating system’s tile-based system.

The Lumia 800 was thus a natural upgrade. Again, the large tiles make for easy navigation. The updated Windows Phone 7.5 provides for multi-tasking. The interface is fast, and the 8-meg camera, based on Carl-Zeiss optics, is no slouch.

Indeed, folks like my dad are the type of users that Microsoft and Nokia need to convince, even as many reviewers and techies glowingly praise both Windows Phone and Nokia’s Lumia range, including the latest Lumia 900 shipping in the United States this weekend.  …

Mention Focal to audiophiles and the thought of its large floor stander speakers easily come to mind. So when the French hi-fi speaker maker recently said it was getting into headphones, many head-fi folks were thrilled to hear what would come of the effort.

The Spirit One is this first pair of ‘phones from Focal and after a quick listen, I’d say they don’t disappoint, as long as you avoid equipment that can add too much bass, as many portable devices and laptops can do. …

Mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras are all the rage right now, and the market is heating up with an even greater variety of brands producing their own take on the format – such as the Fujifilm niche X-Pro1 and Olympus OM-D.

Not to be left behind, Panasonic, which introduced the very first micro four thirds (MFT) camera back in 2008, just unveiled its latest addition to its MFT family: the Lumix GF5. We got our hands on pre-release prototypes to see just how well it’ll stand up against the competition. …

After a rather quiet 2011, the Taiwanese phone maker seems to be back this year with a quite stunning One X flagship phone that will push it into an early lead in an ultra-competitive list of top-end phones.

We had a quick hands-on session today with the Android 4.0 device at a regional launch at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, and we came away quite sure this is the top-end phone to beat now. …

“Same old expensive price” was probably the first thing that struck many Singapore football fans when they heard today that StarHub is charging S$58 to watch live Euro 2012 matches in June.

The price, for early birds only, is only slightly less than the other football bonanza just two years ago – the World Cup. Back then, pay-TV viewers had to pay S$66 to get the live matches, prompting much unhappiness.

But this time, things may be a little different. And they could have a huge bearing on how expensive sports progammes will be in future.

For Euro 2012, viewers will be able to watch the matches without being tied to a StarHub contract. This includes SingTel mio TV subscribers who can now watch the matches through their existing set-top boxes. They will pay StarHub separately but the content will be piped through SingTel’s network without having them fuss over a new set-top box.

This is the first time this is happening because of a “cross carriage” ruling that the government regulator had hammered into place after the World Cup bidding fiasco in 2010.
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Mass Effect 3 is a Bioware title that needs no introduction to RPG gamers — it is one of the biggest blockbuster games to come out in 2012.

It is the capstone to a stunningly envisioned sci-fi universe, and has legions of hardcore fans who love the lore and stories of the Mass Effect universe.

I consider myself one of them, having completed Mass Effect 1, 2 and now 3, spending in excess of 120+ hours finishing the main storylines and selected DLCs. This was an unmissable game for me.

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