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Today, Alpha Software has released version 11 of its Alpha Five tool. It helps developers build Web applications to solve a business problem once and make the app available on major platforms. Using Microsoft .NET and HTML5, Alpha Five enables developers to avoid Flash, Silverlight and other plugins that limit the compatibility of apps with major devices like the iPad.

Applications built with tools like Alpha Five will work the same on all your devices. The forms, dialogs and security features, as well as the calendars, video players and image galleries, are backed on the server side. Users won't have to worry about which device to use, and developers won't have to reinvent the wheel for each one.

Pogoplug, from a company called Cloud Engines, is the name of the external USB drive that makes all your files available on the Internet. But now, Cloud Engines is moving into the software space with a new personal cloud product that comes hardware-free. Like the previous service, Pogoplug will let you stream your photo, video and music libraries from any computer connected to the Internet. But in this case, the libraries are stored on your own computer, not an external drive.

As an entrepreneur it can be dizzying to watch Groupon and Living Social grow so quickly, raising huge venture rounds at massive valuations while contemplating multiple billion dollar acquisitions and IPOs. While certainly this is something even the most disciplined founders find themselves dreaming about, the experience is such an outlier it's not something you can build projections from. However, I do think there is one key lesson entrepreneurs should look at - we are moving into a new "default business model" for consumer software that many of the fastest growing startups are applying to their business.

While most consumer software over the last few years was commercialized by serving advertisements (and before that by charging licensing fees) increasingly I expect consumer technology to be commercialized by enabling purchases and taking a percentage of the transaction over the next few years.

Today Google announced support for pivot tables to the Google Docs spreadsheet application. According to Wikipedia, pivot tables "can automatically sort, count, total or give the average of the data stored in one table or spreadsheet. It displays the results in a second table (called a "pivot table") showing the summarized data." It's a common approach to data visualization and business intelligence.

Unfortunately, pivot tables from Microsoft Excel can't be imported into Google Docs yet.

As a part of an experiment to really understand the value and the shortcomings of Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 platform, I recently made the HTC HD7 my primary device. The only exception to this is when I travel, when a mobile hotspot (such as is provided by my Nexus S) is a necessity. I don't know that this experiment can last much longer, however, because today's Windows Phone is simply not powerful enough for my day-to-day needs. When the "Mango" update (due this fall) is released, that may change.

In the meantime, I spent a little time playing around with the desktop software side of the Windows Phone experience, which is notably different depending on whether you're a Mac or PC person. Different, however, doesn't necessarily mean better or worse, I've found.

Earlier today we told you about HP's new strategy focused on software and cloud-services. This is a departure for HP, which is mostly known as a hardware company but which has been steadily moving into IT services for the past few years. New CEO Leo Apotheker brings several years of enterprise software experience to the company from SAP, but HP's past isn't promising.

Also, I recently read this article by RedMonk's Stephen O'Grady: "How Important is Software? Generational Differences Between Software Producers." O'Grady tracks the recent history of software considers whether software has become so commodified that it no longer confers a strategic advantage. If this is the case, then is becoming a software company really what HP should do?

There are approximately 30,000 fire departments in the United States, and about 86% of them are staffed fully or partly with volunteers. Typically these volunteers are notified of a fire via pager or one-way radio. They then get themselves to the fire station, suit up, and leave for the fire. Often, there is little information about the other responders that may arrive on the scene or about the need for certain kinds of equipment, most notably a tanker truck to supply water.

Every entrepreneur will tell you that recruiting the right candidate is important. While startups are constantly trying to find programmers that mesh well with their culture, team and work-style, one article suggests that companies still struggle finding candidates that know how to program at all. Jeff Atwood published a post this morning entitled, The Non-Programming Programmer with a stunning look at how many interviewees misrepresent their abilities.

An initial public offering, or IPO, is when a company opts to trade its shares publicly on the stock market - a decision that can be a risky investment. At times, unprofitable startups go public in hopes of reversing their situation, but most of the time IPOs come from the profitable startups looking to expand their value. Based on some fascinating new data visualization tools released today from Tableau Software (see note below), an intriguing trend has emerged among profitable and unprofitable IPOs.

SourceForge, the world's largest open source software development website, has backed off a widely unpopular, end-of-January decision that had banned entire countries from accessing the site's vast assortment of open-source software projects. In a blog post yesterday, SourceForge announced that it would discontinue its blanket ban, which was done using automatic IP blocking.

The new policy puts the responsibility for restricting access to certain projects in the hands of project administrators.