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The InformationWeek May 2006 Archive « April 2006 | Main | June 2006 » |
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Daily News Podcast For Thursday, June 1
In today's daily news podcast, we explain how a proof-of-concept macro virus is targeting open source office productivity suites, discuss Trend Micro's anti-virus program for the Windows Vista beta version, share Gartner's warning about the use of Skype VoIP technology, and detail an e-mail client and service that can be stored on and accessed from a USB memory stick. The comments of the day focus on the IT job market.
Your host today is Tom Smith.
Do The Math: EU E-Mail Tax Doesn't Add Up
Comes now that a French MEP is proposing a tax on SMS and e-mail messages as a way to partly supplement the European Union's general fund. Every time I hear one of these proposals, I have to wonder if people have even done the math on this stuff.
Continue reading "Do The Math: EU E-Mail Tax Doesn't Add Up..."
Daily News Podcast For Wednesday, May 31
In today's daily news podcast, we hear about how the Veterans Administration had been given many warnings before its 26.5 million-person security breach.
We also find out that real-time information is no longer fast enough for some companies. The latest trend is applying predictive analysis to everything from patient care to airline safety.
Finally, we delve into how Intel, AMD, and other high-tech manufacturers and nonprofits hope their efforts to produce low-cost PCs for the underdeveloped world will grow new markets for the future.
The comments of the day focus on how Apple was thwarted in its attempts to get online publishers to turn over the names of their sources.
Your host today is Alice LaPlante.
Vista Secrets: Read 'Em If You Can
Microsoft has re-released a 300-page guide to Windows Vista that was posted and then pulled in April. But even though there's now a link to it, Microsoft still seems to be working pretty hard to keep it a secret: it's available in two formats -- a 60-megabyte Word file, and an XPS file. (A what file?)
Continue reading "Vista Secrets: Read 'Em If You Can..."
Vista Secrets: Read 'Em If You Can
Microsoft has re-released a 300-page guide to Windows Vista that was posted and then pulled in April. But even though there's now a link to it, Microsoft still seems to be working pretty hard to keep it a secret: it's available in two formats -- a 60-megabyte Word file, and an XPS file. (A what file?)
Continue reading "Vista Secrets: Read 'Em If You Can..."
The IT Funhouse
My husband, the IT Guy, has had a mirthful week on the job. In reverse chronological order, here are a few of the things that have put a smile on his face. Or someone else's.
Continue reading "The IT Funhouse..."
Iranian Nuclear Crisis More Than Just Fun And Games
The Iranian government claims its nuclear program is for the production of energy -- peaceful purposes only. The U.S. government claims Iran is secretly working on nuclear bombs for its long-range missiles. America and Iran both say they'll go to war over the issue. Doesn't the conflict sound like the basis for a really fun game?
Continue reading "Iranian Nuclear Crisis More Than Just Fun And Games..."
Apple Against The Rest Of Us
The company that made media history with its classic "1984" Super Bowl commercial is acting suspiciously like an organization out of the George Orwell novel it was based on.
Yes, I'm talking about Apple's attempts to force online publishers to disclose their sources of confidential information.
Continue reading "Apple Against The Rest Of Us..."
Here's A Twist: Workers In India Fear Outsourcing
There's an old Dilbert cartoon in which the pointy-haired boss is asked if he believes in irony. His reply: "No, I send my shirts to a service." If you don't believe in irony, here's a story that will convert you. It's about a group of workers in India that's holding protests against...outsourcing.
Continue reading "Here's A Twist: Workers In India Fear Outsourcing..."
Painful Privacy Lessons
Since the theft of a disk containing names, social security numbers, and birth dates for more than 26 million veterans from the home of a Veterans Affairs data analyst was made public last week, the outcry over the agency's failure to guard the privacy of what are effectively its most valued customers has continued non-stop. VA Inspector General George Opfer confessed at a Senate hearing last week that supervisors of the VA data analyst were unaware the employee had the file containing the veterans' personal identifying information in his possession. Last week, I railed against the lack of plain old common sense with regard to data privacy and physical security. And though I find myself still confounded by this incident, I think there are some good lessons that can be learned by all of us - both from the perspective of protecting customer information and guarding our own data as consumers.
Continue reading "Painful Privacy Lessons..."
Painful Privacy Lessons
Since the theft of a disk containing names, social security numbers, and birth dates for more than 26 million veterans from the home of a Veterans Affairs data analyst was made public last week, the outcry over the agency's failure to guard the privacy of what are effectively its most valued customers has continued non-stop. VA Inspector General George Opfer confessed at a Senate hearing last week that supervisors of the VA data analyst were unaware the employee had the file containing the veterans' personal identifying information in his possession. Last week, I railed against the lack of plain old common sense with regard to data privacy and physical security. And though I find myself still confounded by this incident, I think there are some good lessons that can be learned by all of us - both from the perspective of protecting customer information and guarding our own data as consumers.
Continue reading "Painful Privacy Lessons..."
Daily News Podcast For Tuesday, May 30
In today's daily news podcast, Apple failed in its efforts to unmask a journalist's sources, Symantec has a security hole in its security products, and Sacred Heart is the latest university to lose identities. The In Depth report features the crisis over the data breach at the Veterans Administration. My editorial comments on the news of the day have me getting ready to eat my own words about 2007 Office and Windows Vista.
Links: "Review: 2007 Microsoft Office Beta 2 Is Up And Running" and "Review: Windows Vista Beta 2 Features Great Search, Improved Security, Hardware Snags."
Your host today is Mitch Wagner.
Getting Ready To Eat My Words About 2007 Office And Windows Vista
I'm not prepared to eat my words just yet. But I'm setting the table in case I have to chow down.
A couple of months ago, I predicted Microsoft would have big trouble getting users to upgrade to Vista and the next version of Office.
Well, Microsoft dropped Beta 2 of 2007 Office, and it's looking pretty tasty. It may be a big hit after all.
Continue reading "Getting Ready To Eat My Words About 2007 Office And Windows Vista..."
Funny Stuff: In Praise Of Rental Cars
Rental cars these days also have buttons all over the steering wheel, which makes me very happy. This is because like all rational, mature adults, I want to be Speed Racer. All I need is a child and his chimp in the trunk and I'm ready to rock. It's not precisely totally 100 percent the same, though, because Speed's buttons transformed the car into a boat and launched a robot homing pigeon, while my buttons engage cruise control. In all honesty, I'm about 400 times more likely to use cruise control as I am to need a robot pigeon, but it would be nice to have both.
Outsourcing Tracker: Unhappy Customer Sues IBM
I've predicted before that failed outsourcing contracts will become commonplace enough that we'll find more and more companies dumping their outsourcers. The last example, cited just nine days ago, was Diebold dumping Deloitte Consulting.
Continue reading "Outsourcing Tracker: Unhappy Customer Sues IBM..."
VoIP Difficulties Don't Seem To Improve
Back in October 1998, I co-wrote a cover story for Network Computing on VoIP in the enterprise, introducing the technology to our readers and describing some of the deployment challenges that admins should watch for. What's interesting is that every time I've gone back and reread that article, I've expected to find it completely outdated, with most of the early problems resolved and newer challenges in place. But instead I keep finding that most of those old problems still exist in one form or another, even though we're now closing in on that article's 10-year birthday. This realization was driven home yet again by two recent articles.
Continue reading "VoIP Difficulties Don't Seem To Improve..."
Stolen Data: Trouble's Just A Click Away If You Know Where To Look
If news of the recent theft of a Veterans Affairs laptop containing records of 26.5 million vets and their spouses has you feeling insecure, here's something you'll really like: marketplaces where this stolen information can be bought and sold so that criminals can not only steal your identity, but gain access to all that your identity provides. While these marketplaces aren't new, I recently sat down with a couple of RSA Security Inc. anti-fraud researchers to learn how these marketplaces operate.
Continue reading "Stolen Data: Trouble's Just A Click Away If You Know Where To Look..."
Daily News Podcast For Friday, May 26
In today's daily news podcast, Microsoft and Intel back a new pay-as-you-compute program, Symantec warns its enterprise customers about an unpatched vulnerability in Windows 2000's file sharing protocol, two men are arrested for trying to extort $150,000 from MySpace, and Windows Vista Beta 2 is reviewed positively--well, mostly positively. Meanwhile, the Editor's Note offers sympathy to those IT staffers whose job it will be to implement all of Microsoft's new software.
Your host today is Barbara Krasnoff.
Is Wikipedia Dead, Or Just Pining For The Fjords?
Nick Carr says it's dead, as the community encyclopedia has put in place a tightening series of controls on who can contribute content.
He notes that one of the kinds of restrictions is named "in good Orwellian fashion, 'semi-protection,'" which blocks unregistered editors and editors with very new accounts from editing a page.
"The end came last Friday," Carr writes. "That's when Wikipedia's founder, Jimmy Wales, proposed 'that we eliminate the requirement that semi-protected articles have to announce themselves as such to the general public.'"
Now here's the money quote from Carr:
Continue reading "Is Wikipedia Dead, Or Just Pining For The Fjords?..."
Do You Want To Be Part Of Microsoft's Revolution?
There's been a lot of hoopla about the simultaneous announcements of Microsoft Vista Beta 2, 2007 Microsoft Office Beta 2, and Longhorn Vista Server Beta 2. In fact, there's been so much coverage from all the various online and print media that I've been tempted to find myself a beta blocker. (Sorry--a little health care humor there.)
Continue reading "Do You Want To Be Part Of Microsoft's Revolution?..."
Playing Video Games Could Prove Beneficial To Your Health
Before you have that laparoscopic surgery, let's hope your physician played a video game.
Continue reading "Playing Video Games Could Prove Beneficial To Your Health..."
VIDEO: Technocreep: 5 Things To Do On An Airplane
When you're high above the clouds on a long flight, how do you pass the time? You could finish a good book, watch a movie, take a nap, or have a meaningless conversation with your seatmate. But how about getting a little work done using high-speed access to the Internet?
Click on my Technocreep video blog to find out what's coming to an airplane near you and what some busy technology execs think about it. Hint: E-mail access = great. Voice over IP or cell calls = annoying. You know what else people find annoying? Having someone sit next to them and record a video blog! Sorry, pal.
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So who's bidding?
Continue reading "VIDEO: Technocreep: 5 Things To Do On An Airplane..."
Apple Wants iPods To Keep Pace With Listeners
A patent application published today suggests that Apple is planning iPod software that plays songs to suit the pace of listeners' activities.
"[T]he invention pertains to a computing device that is capable of controlling the speed of the music so as to affect the mood and behavior of the user during an activity such as exercise," the patent application says. "By way of example, the speed of the music can be controlled to match the pace of the activity (synching the speed of the music to the activity of the user) or alternatively it can be controlled to drive the pace of the activity (increasing or decreasing the speed of the music to encourage a greater or lower pace)."
Continue reading "Apple Wants iPods To Keep Pace With Listeners..."
Carnegie Mellon Tackles Data Center Operation Costs
Coming up with new approaches to battling the rising cost of operating enterprise-class data centers will require effort from throughout the IT industry, as well as from outside sources such as Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. The university this week opened a new data center that will provide computing resources to the institution and its students and serve as a research lab that will target issues related to rising energy costs and, perhaps even more importantly, management costs.
Continue reading "Carnegie Mellon Tackles Data Center Operation Costs..."
Daily News Podcast For Thursday, May 25
In today's daily news podcast, we detail an apparent slip in the planned shipment date for Microsoft Windows Vista, as well as Bill Gates' assertions on the ongoing value of the PC platform. We also review survey results on the American public's confidence about data protection and explain how a sophisticated international crackdown has nailed hundreds of crooks, including those that ply their trade on the Internet. The comments of the day offer some unsolicited advice to Microsoft on Vista.
Your host today is Tom Smith.
People Use Word Because They Use Word
I've been puzzled as to why people would choose to write in Microsoft Word--or any word processor--if the text they're producing has little or no formatting. Well, I got my answer, and I fear that, alas, it's less interesting than I had hoped:
People use what they're used to using.
Now you're thinking: Well, duh.
Continue reading "People Use Word Because They Use Word..."
Europe Falling Short Of Tech Investment Goals
A recent report by the European Commission says investment by EU member states in Information & Communication Technologies (ICT) research and job-creation efforts is falling short. According to the press release that accompanied the report last week, "Europe continues to lag behind its competitors, investing about half as much as the US." Furthermore, "ICT [investments] are today contributing less to European productivity growth than they did 10 years ago," despite a commitment in 2005 by EU member states to increase their funding efforts.
The report and additional materials are available at the i2010 Web site.
Podcasting Really Is For The Masses
Many of the readers of Desktop Pipeline are small to midsize business (SMB) owners, and as such have entrepreneurial natures. What that means is that you are more apt to take risks, more likely to embrace new technology and, in general, are just more fun to be around than, say, someone from Enron. All kidding aside, it makes a certain degree of sense that small businesses in particular would be faster adopters -- if not early adopters -- of technology than big companies because there's not the same long, winding path of approvals that need to take place. There are also a significant number of readers who service small business accounts, and who understand the unique needs of these shops. That having been said, are you (or your SMB customers) podcasting yet? If so, boo-yah! If not, it's time to get in the game. I'm serious.
Continue reading "Podcasting Really Is For The Masses..."
Podcasting Really Is For The Masses
Many of the readers of Desktop Pipeline are small to midsize business (SMB) owners, and as such have entrepreneurial natures. What that means is that you are more apt to take risks, more likely to embrace new technology and, in general, are just more fun to be around than, say, someone from Enron. All kidding aside, it makes a certain degree of sense that small businesses in particular would be faster adopters -- if not early adopters -- of technology than big companies because there's not the same long, winding path of approvals that need to take place. There are also a significant number of readers who service small business accounts, and who understand the unique needs of these shops. That having been said, are you (or your SMB customers) podcasting yet? If so, boo-yah! If not, it's time to get in the game. I'm serious.
Continue reading "Podcasting Really Is For The Masses..."
Terrorist Connections: Find Them Yourself
There's little doubt in my mind the NSA is actively mining huge stores of data and performing social network analysis to produce complex maps of terrorist networks in the hunt for al-Qaida. And if it does it right, it could see some success. It's not like social network analysis of al-Qaida hasn't been done before, even by yours truly (though I admit I don't think I've ever caught a terrorist).
Continue reading "Terrorist Connections: Find Them Yourself..."
Daily News Podcast For Wednesday, May 24
In today's daily news podcast, we hear about how Microsoft has released Windows Vista Beta 2, offering the next iteration of its upcoming operating system up for public scrutiny. We also find out how Dell's CFO has admitted blunders and vowed that the company will rebound from its recent slump. Finally, we delve into why Seagate is laying off 6,000 workers as it closes its deal to buy Maxtor.
The comments of the day focus on the battle for dominance between traditional IT analysts and upstarts that are relying on blogs, podcasts, and open forums to get their opinions across.
Your host today is Alice LaPlante.
Salesforce's Benioff Nurtures The Waning Art Of CEO Smack Talking
Seriously, when did the tech business get so buttoned down? Remember when everything was personal, when it was all ego and bluster and thin skin? CEOs inspired the team by setting up rivals as the spawn of Satan--they're evil and we're good because we're on the side of righteousness. Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff is a throwback, as witnessed by his views (and impersonations) in InformationWeek's cover story.
Continue reading "Salesforce's Benioff Nurtures The Waning Art Of CEO Smack Talking..."
Office 2007 'Shiny,' Says Scalzi
Scalzi has been playing with the Office 2007 beta and loves it. He writes:
I can say at this point that a) I really like the new organizational structure of the features up at the top (the tabs mean you don't have to drill down through several hundred menus to find functionality), and b) I sure hope MS improves its"Publish to Blog" feature, because right now it stinks; I can't get it to play with the Whatever, which is a tragedy, or even with LiveJournal, which it's supposed to be able to do. It has seamless integration with MSN Spaces, however. Yeah, I'm gonna get right on that.
If Word 2007 pans out, it'll make the case for me returning to my PC for my book writing.
I responded in the comments thread:
I 'R a riter myself, and therefore I was surprised to hear that you like writing in Word. I find Word to be way, way too heavyweight for just writing.
Continue reading "Office 2007 'Shiny,' Says Scalzi..."
India's Outsourcers Go A Step Further To Ensure Data Security
A concern often raised about offshore outsourcing is data security. The fear is that it may be hard to keep a handle on sensitive customer records if they're stored in servers in far-flung parts of the world like India. In fact, it seems like there are many more security breaches in the United States than offshore--the most recent case in point being the theft of info on 26 million veterans. Still, India's outsourcing industry is working to ensure that the country's reputation as a safe place to do business remains intact.
Continue reading "India's Outsourcers Go A Step Further To Ensure Data Security..."
IT Analysts Duke It Out In Cyberspace. So Why Should You Care?
Pay attention: There's a free-for-all happening among IT analysts.
Currently controlled by a handful of major analyst houses--which suck up 80% of a market that rakes in $2 billion a year in revenues--the industry is being turned upside down by a swarm of upstarts that are using blogs, podcasts, and open online forums to propagate their opinions about vendors, technologies, and products.
So why should you care one iota about this turf war?
Continue reading "IT Analysts Duke It Out In Cyberspace. So Why Should You Care?..."
Make Free Skype Calls With Regular Phone
A gadget called the Skype USB to RJ11 Adaptor lets you make and receive free Internet VoIP calls using your regular home phone -- and your cell phone. The device plugs into your PC's USB port, and has a place to plug in your home phone. Once you set it up, you can use your home phone to make free calls to anywhere in the world.
Continue reading "Make Free Skype Calls With Regular Phone..."
Identity Crisis (Again)
Here we go again. Yesterday the Veterans Administration (VA) disclosed that vital identifying information for more than 26 million former military personnel and some of their spouses including social security numbers was stolen when a VA data analyst's laptop was taken from his suburban D.C. home during a burglary. VA officials say there is no evidence now that the thieves know what they have in their possession or that any of that the data analyst, who did not have permission to take the laptop home, was involved in a plot to steal the data. However, it is clear the information is very much in jeopardy. It is also clear that even after so many other high-profile incidents, organizations are still not learning the importance of protecting their clients' most vital assets- their identities.
Continue reading "Identity Crisis (Again)..."
Identity Crisis (Again)
Here we go again. Yesterday the Veterans Administration (VA) disclosed that vital identifying information for more than 26 million former military personnel and some of their spouses including social security numbers was stolen when a VA data analyst's laptop was taken from his suburban D.C. home during a burglary. VA officials say there is no evidence now that the thieves know what they have in their possession or that any of that the data analyst, who did not have permission to take the laptop home, was involved in a plot to steal the data. However, it is clear the information is very much in jeopardy. It is also clear that even after so many other high-profile incidents, organizations are still not learning the importance of protecting their clients' most vital assets- their identities.
Continue reading "Identity Crisis (Again)..."
Daily News Podcast For Tuesday, May 23
In today's daily news podcast, a thief steals identity information about millions of U.S. veterans; companies can use the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act to go after ex-employees for stealing intellectual property; a worm running through Yahoo's instant messaging network is installing a browser of its own that leads users to adware and spyware sites; an online poker site is dealing a Trojan; Bill Gates says finding information through keyword searches is just the beginning of what's really important; we give you our take on what Java's move to open source means; Seagate is laying off 6,000 people as it closes the Maxtor deal; smart cards are poised to offer wireless access in Korea, fight fraud in Qatar, and expand in the U.S.; and some are continuing the fight for the .XXX domain, but not for the reasons you might think.
Today's In Depth is about Microsoft, and our editorial comments are about Java in an open-source world.
Your host today is Johanna Ambrosio.
Open-Source Java: What's It To You?
With all the posturing and PR around the announcement of Java going open source, key details are missing. Even more of a mystery is how this will help corporate Java customers going forward.
Continue reading "Open-Source Java: What's It To You?..."
Get 'Lost' With Game Coming Next Year
It had to happen. By next year there should be a PC and video game based on the ABC TV series, "Lost." The French company Ubisoft announced today a long-term licensing deal with Touchstone Television that allows the game developer to create a "Lost" game in its awesome Montreal studio.
Continue reading "Get 'Lost' With Game Coming Next Year..."
TiVo's Magazine Team-Up Shows Old-Media Arrogance: They're Just Too Fuller Themselves
TiVo's announcement Monday that it's teaming up with old-line magazines like Vanity Fair, Sports Illustrated, and several other major print brands to create a so-called Guru Guide service for viewers shows that the company and its heavily recycled CEO, Tom Rogers, fundamentally don't get what's driving the new, networked, Internet 2.0 economy. So if I were a TiVo shareholder, which I'm not, here's why I'd be dumping that stock faster than Paris Hilton ditches Greek millionaires.
Continue reading "TiVo's Magazine Team-Up Shows Old-Media Arrogance: They're Just Too Fuller Themselves..."
Daily News Podcast For Monday, May 22
In today's daily news podcast, we hear about a bad bug in the popular Skype VoIP service, find out how Dell is vowing to slash prices in order to regain market share, and discover what musicians are doing to support the net neutrality bill. The comments of the day focus on online social networking and why it's probably not quite ready for business use.
Your host today is Alice LaPlante.
How To Succeed In Business
It's the year of social networking. Oh no, wait, that was 2003.
Because by mid-2004, pundits were already predicting the death of what was being called just a passing fad. But social networking couldn't have been quite moribund because people, with great fanfare, pronounced it dead again almost a year later (in 2005).
And now that social networking is really going gangbusters (see this week's article on the subject), some analysts are scrambling to use the "B" word. Go figure.
Continue reading "How To Succeed In Business..."
VIDEO: Technocreep--Net-Connected Appliances In The Home
There's been talk of, and experimentation with, Net-connected appliances for years. But here's one idea that could save you money and help you use energy resources more wisely. As part of the GridWise Initiative, led by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 200 consumers in Washington and Oregon are connecting their clothes dryers, water heaters, and thermostats to the Internet to control when they run. If utility prices are high or if there's huge demand being placed on the grid, your dryer can turn itself off.
Just click on the play button below to hear more about this in my Technocreep blog.
If you wish to get the latest version of Flash player, please download it here.What could you do with a 15% savings on your utility bill? For me, it could pay for a tank of gas, or a trip to my favorite sushi restaurant, or 12 boxes of Girl Scout cookies.
Want to learn more about the GridWise Initiative? Read Keyla Kirton's story on InformationWeek.com.
Daily News Podcast For Friday, May 19
In today's daily news podcast, Symantec sues Microsoft and tries to block the distribution of Windows Vista. In the meantime, Microsoft spells out the system requirements for Vista, announces that it plans to acquire Whale Communications, and hints at its plans to crush Google as it did Netscape. The U.S. Patent Office will re-examine Amazon.com's controversial patent on one-click Internet shopping, the Department of Homeland Security criticizes the privacy and security risks of using RFID for human identification, and Dell finally breaks its Intel-only policy. Our In Depth report looks at reviews and personal tech, while the Editor's Note urges users to consider alternatives to Microsoft software.
Today's hosts are Mitch Wagner and Valerie Potter.
Putting Implants In Immigrants
Katherine Albrecht doesn't much care for RFID technology. She's the author of Spychips: How Major Corporations and Government Plan to Track your Every Move with RFID (Nelson Current) and the founder of CASPIAN, Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering, a group that's either pro-privacy or anti-business, depending on your preferred flavor of spin.
Even so, my jaw dropped when I read today's press release from her organization claiming that the head of VeriChip Corporation wants to put RFID tracking chips in immigrants.
Can anyone be that clueless?
Continue reading "Putting Implants In Immigrants..."
Hey Dell, What Took You So Long To Offer AMD?
It was almost anticlimatic when the announcement came in under the radar Thursday that Dell would break with its long-standing policy of selling Intel-only computers. The confirmation came tacked on to another disappointing Dell quarterly financial report, which perhaps speaks volumes on why the move to AMD was finally made.
Continue reading "Hey Dell, What Took You So Long To Offer AMD?..."
VIDEO: Worst. Job Interview. Ever.
Guy Goma, of the Congo, showed up at the BBC News for an interview for an IT job.
Instead, the Beeb mistook him for a Guy Kewney, editor of Newswireless.net, who was about to be interviewed for a piece on the Beatles' lawsuit with Apple Computer over the Apple trademark. It put him on the air for an interview about the subject.
Thing is, Goma did pretty well for himself. I've seen worse so-called experts interviewed on the TV news.
If the BBC is smart, it'll give Goma the job; he certainly displayed an ability to think fast in a crisis.
Microsoft's Not The Only Game In Town
If you're like me, you use several Microsoft products every day: Windows, for starters. Word. Excel. PowerPoint. Windows Media Player. Huge numbers of you use Outlook for E-mail, contacts, and calendaring. Even if you've switched to Firefox or Opera, you probably use Internet Explorer for certain sites, such as corporate tools, that won't support other browsers.
Microsoft software is everywhere on both corporate and home desktops. We use it all the time without even thinking about it. We may even like it. But is it wise to cede control of so much of our computing lives to one company? Deep down, I think even the most contented Microsoft users are curious about the alternatives, as shown by the runaway success of Firefox.
Continue reading "Microsoft's Not The Only Game In Town..."
Maybe They Could Spell It 'Serch'
Microsoft's rebranding of everything in sight as "Live" reached new peaks of frenzy this week when it announced a desktop search application called Windows Live Search. Only problem was, it already has a Web search called Windows Live Search.
Continue reading "Maybe They Could Spell It 'Serch'..."
Maybe They Could Spell It 'Serch'
Microsoft's rebranding of everything in sight as "Live" reached new peaks of frenzy this week when it announced a desktop search application called Windows Live Search. Only problem was, it already has a Web search called Windows Live Search.
Continue reading "Maybe They Could Spell It 'Serch'..."
Hardware Monitoring On Windows
In the last post, I wrote about the hardware-level monitoring tools that are available for Linux, and in this post I'll look at the same kinds of tools that are available for Windows.
Surprisingly, hardware monitoring on Windows is much more complicated than it is on Linux. For one thing, there's no single extensible sensor engine like lm_sensors on Linux. Instead, there are a handful of monolithic engines for Windows that each have significant limitations. Worse is that the most extensible engine was abandoned a couple of years ago, while some of the more modern packages are lacking the basic functionality needed for hands-off management and reporting.
Continue reading "Hardware Monitoring On Windows..."
Samsung Unveils Super Phone
Samsung unveiled a super smartphone today at the Korea 2006 Expo -- one that replaces your digital camera, iPod and GPS gadget. Oh, and you can use it to make calls, too.
Continue reading "Samsung Unveils Super Phone..."
Big Brother On Campus: Cell Phone-GPS Combo To Track Students' Whereabouts
Campus security at a New Jersey university is getting help from an eye in the sky. Combining global positioning satellite and cell phone technologies, campus security officials can be alerted if a student fails to arrive at a destination on time.
Continue reading "Big Brother On Campus: Cell Phone-GPS Combo To Track Students' Whereabouts..."
VIDEO: Immigration, H-1B Policies Don't Make Sense, Says SAS CEO
When Jim Goodnight, CEO of business intelligence company, SAS, studied the April unemployment numbers, things just didn't add up. It wasn't the actual job numbers that were the problem, but rather how they relate to the number of people allowed to work in the U.S. under H-1B visas each year and the number of people who come into the U.S. from its Southern borders.
Continue reading "VIDEO: Immigration, H-1B Policies Don't Make Sense, Says SAS CEO..."
Daily News Podcast For Thursday, May 18
In today's daily news podcast, we detail the dual-core mobile strategy of AMD as it takes on Intel's Centrino stronghold, analyze--or try to analyze--a security fix issued by Apple, and explain what prompted a high-profile spam fighter to wave the white flag. The comments of the day explore the significance of Diebold's decision to terminate a big outsourcing contract.
Your host today is Tom Smith.
Hardware Monitoring On Linux
For the past couple of weeks I've been blogging about hardware-level management issues, but I haven't really talked about the tools and technologies that can be used to keep an eye on this stuff. This post looks at the tools that are available for Linux (and Unix in general), while the next post will look at the tools available for Windows.
Continue reading "Hardware Monitoring On Linux..."
PC Theft's Darwin Awards
All you fans of the Darwin Awards will like this. Just as the Darwins "salute the improvement of the human genome by honoring those who remove themselves from it in really stupid ways," a company called Absolute Software recently shared some of the more interesting cases of computer theft and recovery it has encountered over the past year.
Continue reading "PC Theft's Darwin Awards..."
Sun Answers The World's Most Boring Question
Before announcing yesterday that it would release Java under an open-source license, Sun's executives might have considered the matter very carefully. They might have debated the pros and cons of open-source Java; invited outside experts to weigh in on the matter; and then settled on a carefully-timed plan for getting the job done.
But they didn't. Rich Green, Sun's prodigal software boss, said yesterday about Sun's decision to open-source Java: "At this point, it's not a question of whether. It's a question of how."
Actually, if it was a question of "how," we would still be waiting.
Continue reading "Sun Answers The World's Most Boring Question..."
PODCAST: A Few More Questions About Vista
In this podcast, InformationWeek's Valerie Potter asks Preston Gralla, author of "20 Questions About Windows Vista," a few burning questions about Microsoft's next operating system release. What features don't work in the current Vista beta? Should you wait until Vista is released to buy a new PC? Listen to find out.
Apple's New MacBooks Are 'Flaky' - Users
Less than 24 hours after Apple unveiled its new MacBook laptop, some users have begun reporting that the black matte finish on the notebooks is fragile, literally flaking or peeling off.
Continue reading "Apple's New MacBooks Are 'Flaky' - Users..."
Chinks In Outsourcing's Armor
When Diebold Inc. announced Wednesday that it will take over--or more precisely, take back--an Oracle ERP implementation and some additional IT-related functions, resulting in a financial charge and an end to its contract with Deloitte Consulting, it didn't explicitly point fingers or assign blame.
Continue reading "Chinks In Outsourcing's Armor..."
Surfing Is From Mars, Support Calls Are From Venus
A survey conducted for the Web security company Websense by Harris Interactive says that men surf more non-work-related Web sites than women while at work and spend longer looking at them, and women are far more likely to admit that their PCs are infected with spyware and call the Help Desk about it.
Continue reading "Surfing Is From Mars, Support Calls Are From Venus..."
Surfing Is From Mars, Support Calls Are From Venus
A survey conducted for the Web security company Websense by Harris Interactive says that men surf more non-work-related Web sites than women while at work and spend longer looking at them, and women are far more likely to admit that their PCs are infected with spyware and call the Help Desk about it.
Continue reading "Surfing Is From Mars, Support Calls Are From Venus..."
BlackBerry Vs. Laptop: It's No Contest
If you could use only one device for an entire day, which would it be: your BlackBerry, cell phone, iPod, or laptop?
Continue reading "BlackBerry Vs. Laptop: It's No Contest..."
Daily News Podcast For Wednesday, May 17
In today's daily news podcast, Sun's pledge to make Java open source leaves key questions unanswered. Meanwhile, the company forms an alliance with Microsoft for Java and .Net. Also, Gates says Microsoft will provide common SQL underpinnings, AMD touts energy-efficient PC processors, Apple dumps the iBook and unveils the 13-inch MacBook, IBM researchers cram 8 terabytes on a tape cartridge, and Snap.com blurs paid and unpaid search results. The In Depth looks at the latest personal technology headlines, while the Editor's Note looks at the latest example of what can happen when you don't preempt hackers, as well as the horrors of not planning for failure.
Your host today is Patricia Keefe.
Sun's Schwartz Welcomes Bad-Boy Fleury To JavaOne Stage
Marc Fleury, CEO of JBoss Inc., took the stage at the opening keynote of JavaOne wearing a red beret. Well, he's French, which explains the beret, and JBoss is being acquired by Red Hat, which explains the color. But that's not what's surprising about Fleury being on stage during Sun President Jonathan Schwartz' address.
Continue reading "Sun's Schwartz Welcomes Bad-Boy Fleury To JavaOne Stage..."
Google In Your iBook
Charity, it seems, is catching, not to mention competitive. The Maine Department of Education recently struck a deal with Apple Computer to provide iBooks for 36,000 students for $289 apiece as part of the Maine Learning Technology Initiative.
The iBooks come with plenty of nifty software. But nothing from Google. So Google, ever committed to organizing the world's information, has decided to donate Google Earth and SketchUp Pro for installation on every public-school computer in the state.
Continue reading "Google In Your iBook..."
A Tale Of Two IT Fiascos
As an addendum to my last Editor's Note, "Hacking: A Cautionary Tale," I direct your attention to this article from the Friday, May 12, edition of The Plain Dealer, "3rd Computer Breach At OU Within 3 Weeks."
Continue reading "A Tale Of Two IT Fiascos..."
Treo 700p: It Can't Wash Your Car (Yet), But It Comes Close
Hey, all of you traveling businesspeople out there! Put down your BlackBerrys and give the new Treo 700p smart phone a try. It may not come standard with "push" E-mail, but it combines the best of both worlds--professional and personal--into one neat package.
Continue reading "Treo 700p: It Can't Wash Your Car (Yet), But It Comes Close..."
More Tough Days For CA
In less than a week, Systems management vendor CA has lost not one but two of its C-level executives, leaving investors to speculate on what the coming financials will show and customers to wonder what impact, if any, this will have on them. The planned departures of CA's CTO Mark Barrenechea and its CFO Robert Davis come just weeks after Sanjay Kumar, the company's former CEO, pled guilty to charges related to an elaborate accounting scheme designed to artificially inflate the company's earnings numbers. Another executive, the company's former head of sales, entered his plea at the same time.
Continue reading "More Tough Days For CA..."
More Tough Days For CA
In less than a week, Systems management vendor CA has lost not one but two of its C-level executives, leaving investors to speculate on what the coming financials will show and customers to wonder what impact, if any, this will have on them. The planned departures of CA's CTO Mark Barrenechea and its CFO Robert Davis come just weeks after Sanjay Kumar, the company's former CEO, pled guilty to charges related to an elaborate accounting scheme designed to artificially inflate the company's earnings numbers. Another executive, the company's former head of sales, entered his plea at the same time.
Continue reading "More Tough Days For CA..."
Yahoo's New Home Page: Nice But Not Enough
Yahoo today unveiled a redesign of its home page. The new design has a lot to recommend it. It's a big improvement over the old one. The use of Ajax technology to expand links, tabs, and menus is great--it vastly expands the amount of space on the page. And the integration of Yahoo Mail, Yahoo Local, and other services is quite elegant.
"You'll see better content being surfaced, and it's always fresh," Yahoo's chief product officer Ash Patel said in a phone interview.
If only it were content I cared about.
Continue reading "Yahoo's New Home Page: Nice But Not Enough..."
Battling Patent Trolls: Four Old White Guys Get It
For at least four Supreme Court justices, understanding 21st century business dynamics helped sway their decision to join the rest of the high court in striking down a century-old precedent that all but required an injunction against those deemed to have violated a patent.
Continue reading "Battling Patent Trolls: Four Old White Guys Get It..."
Tech Workers Of The World Unite! Or Not
Efforts to unionize IT workers have, to date, pretty much fallen flat. Despite the growth in perceived job threats like offshore outsourcing, automation, and H-1B visa workers, tech pros aren't rushing out to get union cards. Some fear that unionizing IT will result in even more jobs going offshore as companies look for ways to circumvent collective bargaining. One trade union thinks it has an answer for that.
Continue reading "Tech Workers Of The World Unite! Or Not..."
Sony Unveils Its 'Ultra Mobile PC'
After Microsoft unveiled its Ultra Mobile PC, or "Origami," concept March 9, we witnessed a flurry of new hardware interpretations from a variety of vendors. The basic idea is a mobile device bigger and more feature-rich than a smartphone or PDA, but much smaller than a laptop.
Continue reading "Sony Unveils Its 'Ultra Mobile PC'..."
Daily News Podcast For Tuesday, May 16
In today's daily news podcast, we answer 20 questions about Windows Vista, Palm releases an updated Treo, in-flight Internet could renew the debate over phones in planes, and Mozilla unveils a new Firefox 2.0 Alpha. Our Voice of Authority looks at open-source software and asks, who gives and who takes? As part of our In Depth report on the law and technology, judges and prosecutors throw the book at hackers, more E-mail problems and more fines beset Morgan Stanley, and the Supreme Court vacates an eBay patent dispute ruling. And the editorial comments on the news of the day look at the unscenic Vista for Microsoft.
Your host today is Mitch Wagner.
Not Such A Scenic Vista For Microsoft
Today's top story, "20 Questions About Windows Vista," only reinforces my gut feeling that we won't see any rush to upgrade to Vista. The software just doesn't offer any compelling reason for the vast majority of business users and consumers to run out and upgrade immediately.
Continue reading "Not Such A Scenic Vista For Microsoft..."
Daily News Podcast For Monday, May 15
In today's daily news podcast, the Justice Department plans to extend legal oversight of Microsoft, Ballmer says Microsoft needs to focus on winning business back from Linux systems by improving its competitive edge, a new Microsoft patch conflicts with BlackBerry and GoodLink mobile E-mail services, Apple patches 43 flaws in OS X and QuickTime, more than 200,000 identities have been exposed in data breaches at Ohio University, VoIP phone calls may be coming to an airplane near you, mobile phone explosions worry Brazilians, and Firefox gains some market share at the expense of Internet Explorer.
Our In Depth package is about service-oriented architectures, and our editorial looks at Web services.
Your host today is Johanna Ambrosio.
Power Supply Management: The IT Blind Spot
As part of building out my testing infrastructure, I've become more involved with system-level management tools and technologies. This effort has proven to be generally useful for overall resource management purposes (and particularly useful for resolving the various heat-related problems that have cropped up), but there are also some significant blind spots in the current crop of hardware management solutions. At the top of the list are system power supplies, which are currently treated as little more than opaque black boxes when it comes to manageability. However, there's hope on the horizon that this will change soon.
Continue reading "Power Supply Management: The IT Blind Spot..."
Reality, Promise, And Web Services
With much of the hype over Web services finally fading into the background--being replaced by real projects and products, or so I hear--I'm wondering how things are going out there in IT Land.
Continue reading "Reality, Promise, And Web Services..."
Daily News Podcast For Friday, May 12
In today's daily news podcast, Google introduces four new products and calls Microsoft "a convicted monopolist," many emergency responders still can't communicate with each other, spyware distributor ContextPlus has closed shop, and the debate about the controversial .XXX domain continues. The Editor's Note wonders if it's really necessary for E-mail applications to be boring in order to be useful.
Your host today is Barbara Krasnoff.
FDA Growing Impatient With Big Pharma's RFID Efforts
The pharmaceutical industry isn't moving very fast to adopt radio frequency identification technology to combat drug counterfeiting. And the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is about to apply some pressure to speed things up.
The FDA's Counterfeit Drug Task Force is due to issue a report by the end of the month on whether drug manufacturers should be required to have a system in place that ensures a drug's pedigree by tracking it from its manufacturer, through wholesalers and distributors, to its sale by retail pharmacies. There are indications the report will be critical of the industry's cautious approach to RFID--if it doesn't set an outright deadline.
Continue reading "FDA Growing Impatient With Big Pharma's RFID Efforts..."
What Does Microsoft Have That Google And Yahoo Lack?
There are dozens of valid answers to this question. Some are probably quite funny. The one that interests me at the moment: a chief privacy officer.
Microsoft has one, Peter Cullen. Google and Yahoo don't.
Google said yesterday it wanted to be more transparent. It would also do well to be more accountable. Hiring a chief privacy officer would demonstrate that commitment.
Continue reading "What Does Microsoft Have That Google And Yahoo Lack?..."
Has E-Mail Hit A Wall?
Back in the day, there was a popular fantasy television series called Buffy the Vampire Slayer that garnered something of a following. One of the main characters on that series had an evil twin who, when things got a bit slow, would say in a sulky voice, "Bored now." That's sort of how I feel when I look at some of the E-mail packages that are trying to compete with that 50-ton gorilla that lives out in Redmond, Seattle.
Continue reading "Has E-Mail Hit A Wall?..."
Flash Outgrows The Browser
It makes a lot of sense. Adobe is running a project code-named Apollo to free Flash from its servitude as a Web browser plug-in and make it a full-fledged, stand-alone Web application client. Apollo would render HTML and PDF files as well as Flash animations, says an article on C|Net. Web-based apps are pushing the limits of Web browsers, and Apollo would let developers package up applications that would run both online and offline.
Continue reading "Flash Outgrows The Browser..."
Flash Outgrows The Browser
It makes a lot of sense. Adobe is running a project code-named Apollo to free Flash from its servitude as a Web browser plug-in and make it a full-fledged, stand-alone Web application client. Apollo would render HTML and PDF files as well as Flash animations, says an article on C|Net. Web-based apps are pushing the limits of Web browsers, and Apollo would let developers package up applications that would run both online and offline.
Continue reading "Flash Outgrows The Browser..."
Xeon Heat Management
Last week I wrote about issues dealing with getting some of my older 32-bit Athlon processors to run in a low-power, low-heat mode during idle conditions. As I said then, being able to switch into this mode when the operating system isn't busy is enough to get you most of the way toward decent power and thermal management, although sometimes you need to do some other things, like use better fans or heatsinks. To illustrate just how much extra effort can sometimes be required, I thought I would talk about my efforts in trying to get one of my Xeon-based servers to operate at low temperatures.
Continue reading "Xeon Heat Management..."
Daily News Podcast For Thursday, May 11
In today's daily news podcast: Users report glitches with Microsoft's Flash patch, Microsoft updates Outlook and OneNote, xDoc challenges Adobe across platforms, HP unveils five new notebooks, a $3.6M euro project targets integrated wireless nets, and Microsoft looks to the future, promising to expand your experience at the gas pump and, separately, pitching "anywhere" games. Our How To looks at building the extreme home office, and the Editor's Note draws a few cautionary tales from several recent stories on hacking, hackers, and the courts.
Patricia Keefe is your host.
Hacking: A Few Cautionary Tales
This week's story about a white-hat hacker who broke into the University of Southern California's computer system to warn of its vulnerabilities is an interesting cautionary tale for all the parties involved.
Continue reading "Hacking: A Few Cautionary Tales..."
How To Share Camera Phone Videos
YouTube, a very popular service for sharing videos, just rolled out today a new service that lets you easily upload your camera phone videos. It's free and easy to use.
Continue reading "How To Share Camera Phone Videos..."
Convergence, Version Umpteenth; It's No Pipedream
News item: TiVo users will soon be able to watch videos downloaded from the Web on their TV sets, another sign of the convergence between TV and the PC.
Continue reading "Convergence, Version Umpteenth; It's No Pipedream..."
Daily News Podcast For Wednesday, May 10
In today's podcast: A USC hacker case is pivotal to the future of Web security. A survey says security is hot, but security paychecks are not. Sony is allowing a peek at the PlayStation 3. Our In Depth report is about Microsoft, including its Windows and Exchange patches. And our editorial comments on the news of the day look at a simple fix for RFID security.
Today's host: Mitch Wagner.
A Simple Fix For RFID Privacy
It's always a delight when engineers come up with a simple, obvious-in-retrospect solution to a complex and apparently intractable technology problem.
The problem: RFID tags present privacy risks when misused, allowing consumers to be tracked by thieves and unscrupulous businessmen and government officials. The challenge: Find some way to use RFID when it's appropriate, but disable it when it's no longer needed or wanted. Sure, you can zap the little buggers with some kind of radiation, expose them to hot water, or even smash them with a hammer--RFID tags are fragile little beasties--but how is a consumer to know whether that works?
IBM's solution is brilliantly simple and familiar to anybody who's ever put a stamp on a letter: perforation.
Continue reading "A Simple Fix For RFID Privacy..."
The Criminal Element
In his keynote speech at Symantec's Vision conference in San Francisco earlier this week, Symantec CEO John Thompson said the security challenge businesses face today is that hackers are effectively professional criminals with the very focused goal of making a profit at the expense of the companies they are attacking. As such, these hackers bring sophisticated skill sets and often a wealth of experience that puts some businesses at a disadvantage and all companies on the defensive.
Continue reading "The Criminal Element..."
The Criminal Element
In his keynote speech at Symantec's Vision conference in San Francisco earlier this week, Symantec CEO John Thompson said the security challenge businesses face today is that hackers are effectively professional criminals with the very focused goal of making a profit at the expense of the companies they are attacking. As such, these hackers bring sophisticated skill sets and often a wealth of experience that puts some businesses at a disadvantage and all companies on the defensive.
Continue reading "The Criminal Element..."
Preaching To The Unconverted: Warner To Use Peer-To-Peer To Distribute Movies
From the "can't beat 'em, join 'em" department: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group Tuesday said it will use BitTorrent's peer-to-peer publishing platform to distribute flicks such as Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, The Matrix, Dog Day Afternoon, and Natural Born Killers, as well as TV shows such as Babylon 5 and Dukes of Hazzard.
Continue reading "Preaching To The Unconverted: Warner To Use Peer-To-Peer To Distribute Movies..."
How To Get Total Information Awareness (Without Really Trying)
The Pentagon's Total Information Awareness (TIA) project, a massive effort to use information technology to know everything about everyone in the name of national security, was too controversial, so Congress pulled the plug on funding in 2003. (Recent reports suggest that the effort was secretly taken up by the National Security Agency, where the spotlight of public scrutiny never shines.) In any event, I'm here to tell you that you can build your own "Total Information Awareness" system using Google Alerts. It's fast, easy and free to do. And fun.
Continue reading "How To Get Total Information Awareness (Without Really Trying)..."
Microsoft Lap Dog, Ms. Wyne?
Memo to Melanie Wyne, executive director of the Initiative for Software Choice (ISC), evidently a Microsoft PR program masquerading as a trade organization: When you get what you want, you are supposed to say "thank you." Didn't your mother teach you any manners? The state of Massachusetts' request for a OpenDocument format plug-in for Microsoft Office is a very reasonable compromise. So why are you doing a very unattractive imitation of a junkyard dog?
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Microsoft Lap Dog, Ms. Wyne?
Memo to Melanie Wyne, executive director of the Initiative for Software Choice (ISC), evidently a Microsoft PR program masquerading as a trade organization: When you get what you want, you are supposed to say "thank you." Didn't your mother teach you any manners? The state of Massachusetts' request for a OpenDocument format plug-in for Microsoft Office is a very reasonable compromise. So why are you doing a very unattractive imitation of a junkyard dog?
Continue reading "Microsoft Lap Dog, Ms. Wyne?..."
India's Wage Inflation May Have Outsourcers Looking At Des Moines Over Delhi
Today I met with TCS CEO S. Ramadorai at the company's London offices across the street from Buckingham Palace. Not a bad location if you want to create the impression you're in business for the long haul. TCS, with quarter after quarter of double-digit gains in revenue and profits, clearly is. But there's one thing that could derail the $3 billion company's plans to become a $10 billion company by 2012. It could also put the whole offshore equation in doubt.
Continue reading "India's Wage Inflation May Have Outsourcers Looking At Des Moines Over Delhi..."
Daily News Podcast For Tuesday, May 9
In today's daily news podcast, we hear about how Steve Jobs prevailed in his court battle against the Beatles over the Apple trademark, tell you about the proliferation of legal cases centered on E-mail evidence, and give you a list of the best questions to ask during a job interview. The comments of the day focus on Microsoft's massive investments in R&D--and whether they're likely to be effective against Bill Gates' latest nemesis, Google.
Your host today is Alice LaPlante.
Microsoft To Google: Size Does Matter
Has Microsoft's corporate spam filter malfunctioned? To judge from the recent news, it might have succumbed to one of the most common, er, "offers" making the rounds of mailboxes around the world. You know the one I mean.
Yes, the software giant is determined to supersize itself by building the mother of all data centers (time to buy Cisco stock), dramatically upping its investment in MSN, and taking no prisoners in the launch of its new advertising initiative, AdCenter, into the already-shark-invested waters of the search advertising marketplace. Everyone agrees: All this is aimed squarely at Microsoft's new nemesis, Google.
Continue reading "Microsoft To Google: Size Does Matter..."
Google's Blind Eye On Child Porn
A politician in Nassau County, New York, has called Google on its dirty little secret. County rep Jeffrey Toback is suing Google for failing to block child porn and for profiting by placing ads alongside the illicit content. Toback may be right, but he's missing a key point that makes the issue more complicated. Law enforcement officials know Google is used by child pornographers and pedophiles, but rather than clamp down, they've been using Google themselves to pursue the bad guys.
Continue reading "Google's Blind Eye On Child Porn..."
Daily News Podcast For Monday, May 8
In today's daily news podcast, we'll fill you in on how Yahoo is getting sued for spyware-driven click fraud, Microsoft is continuing its investment hike despite Wall Street protests, and Philadelphia and Moscow are gearing up for municipal Wi-Fi networks. Our In Depth report features security, and our editorial comments on the news of the day look at how Blue Security shot itself, and thousands of other people, in the foot.
Your host today is Mitch Wagner.
Background music: "Zombies Awake," courtesy Digital Riffs Music under Creative Commons License
Blue Security Shoots Itself, And Thousands Of Other People, In The Foot
When an outfit called Blue Security launched a service to go after spammers with vigilante justice, any idiot could've foreseen big problems.
In fact, an idiot did.
It wasn't a tough prediction to make. Vigilante justice is always a bad idea because it often results in innocent people getting hurt. And that's what happened, as a spammer's counterattack against Blue Security brought down thousands of blogs worldwide.
Continue reading "Blue Security Shoots Itself, And Thousands Of Other People, In The Foot..."
Open Source: Who Takes But Doesn't Give Back?
Do the companies that benefit the most from open-source code give anything back to the community? That's a provocative question that comes up when you take a close look at how prominent open-source projects actually work. I don't want to point any fingers, but what about the banks and financial services firms? How much do they give back?
Continue reading "Open Source: Who Takes But Doesn't Give Back?..."
Building Online Communities Is As Easy As 1-2-Skype
All this talk of collaboration got me thinking about what Skype told me this week, namely that its early version of Skypecast--live, moderated discussions that allow groups of Skype users worldwide to discuss shared interests--will add a new dimension to online communities everywhere. In fact, it's possible that Skypecasts will soon be embraced by bloggers who want to complement their written Web blogs with a conversational equivalent.
Continue reading "Building Online Communities Is As Easy As 1-2-Skype..."
Bias And The Credibility Of IT Industry Analysts Reloaded, Part II
In my previous installment on this topic, I noted that InformationWeek is working on a sequel to its controversial February 6 cover story on the credibility of IT industry analysts. The story won't appear until later this month, but I wanted to share with you some interesting ideas expressed to me in the area of bias, an important hurdle for any analyst to leap in order to achieve credibility.
Continue reading "Bias And The Credibility Of IT Industry Analysts Reloaded, Part II..."
Cisco CEO Talks Up Collaboration
Is another tech bubble looming? Will consolidation in the networking business continue? What are the key market drivers for mergers and acquisitions? Hear what Cisco CEO John Chambers has to say about these topics in this video interview from the Interop show in Las Vegas.
Continue reading "Cisco CEO Talks Up Collaboration..."
Get A Grip On Athlon Power Utilization
Like most systems managers, I have a variety of problems that stem from high CPU temperatures and power consumption. Although I've been pretty successful at getting most of my systems under control, my older Athlon-based systems have proven to be more stubborn, running at a relatively high power utilization level even under idle conditions. Today I got this fixed, and given that the industry is now starting to pay attention to the problem of wasted power and heat, I thought I'd share what I learned here.
Continue reading "Get A Grip On Athlon Power Utilization..."
Daily News Podcast For Friday, May 5
In today's daily news podcast, we tell you about Microsoft's latest attempt to wrestle away advertising dollars from Google and Yahoo; examine a tough decision that Windows 2000 users will face if Vista is delayed again; discuss "Spam King" Sanford Wallace's punishment from the FTC; and dubiously celebrate the anniversary of the destructive Love Bug worm. Today's In Depth report covers personal tech reviews and news, and our daily commentary is on future technologies.
Your host today is Valerie Potter.
Background music: "The Fall," by Miles Low, courtesy The Cow Exchange under Creative Commons License
Bias And The Credibility Of IT Industry Analysts Reloaded
InformationWeek's February 6 cover story on the credibility of IT industry analysts is the gift that keeps on giving, primarily in the way of phone calls and E-mails telling me I got it right or wrong. InformationWeek has decided to give back. Later this month, we'll publish our next installment on this subject. But rather than rehash the same old arguments about whether analyst firms have the best interests of the IT executive in mind, we'll be talking about where IT analysis is heading. Here's a hint: blogs and bias will play a major role.
Continue reading "Bias And The Credibility Of IT Industry Analysts Reloaded..."
Apple's iPod Phone
Back in November 2004, Apple filed a patent for an "audio user interface for computing devices" such as "an MP3 player, a mobile phone, or a personal digital assistant." The patent application was just published today by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
The patent filing adds weight to speculation offered by a number of bloggers and journalists that Apple is working on a mobile phone, and it suggests that the iPod will eventually become a phone--an eminently sensible endgame for the device, assuming ease of use can be maintained.
Continue reading "Apple's iPod Phone..."
Rational Exuberance Is Here
Perception and reality aren't always the same. Despite the feeling that we could be in another Internet bubble, the fact is we're not. Still, in a podcast, three venture capital experts contrast the differences between today's budding excitement about Internet ventures and the go-go days of the Net boom. As you'll discover in InformationWeek's current cover story, "5 Reasons We're Not In A Tech Boom," there's no bubble to burst this time around.
Put Down That Comb And Take InformationWeek's 2006 Security Survey
Feeling insecure? I'm not talking about that new comb-over hairstyle you've adopted or the big new SUV you just leased, the one that takes up two highway lanes. No, I'm talking about the security of your company's IT systems and data. It's time for you to channel any nervous energy you might have about the next spyware-borne keystroke logger, portable storage device mishap, or Patch Tuesday slumber party into InformationWeek Research's U.S. Information Security Survey 2006.
Continue reading "Put Down That Comb And Take InformationWeek's 2006 Security Survey..."
The Future Is Now
Don't you just love future tech? It's always fascinating to read about the new ways we'll be interacting with technology down the road. Just say the word "nanotechnology," and you've got my full attention. Or "robot." Or "flying car." (Actually, I think flying cars are a terrible idea, but that's a rant for another day.)
Continue reading "The Future Is Now..."
Green Grid Another Step Down AMD Path For Dell
Despite some analyst reports over the past six months that Dell would soon break its "Intel Only" policy, the company created 22 years ago in a University of Texas dorm room by Michael Dell has yet to ship a system using increasingly popular processors from Advanced Micro Devices. This week's announcement at the World Conference on Information Technology in Austin, Tex., that Dell would join the AMD-driven The Green Grid consortium again fueled speculation that Dell will begin using the more energy-efficient AMD processors.
Continue reading "Green Grid Another Step Down AMD Path For Dell..."
Microsoft 'Ware Still Needs Work On Playing Well With Others
Two stories point up the trouble Microsoft is having with its transition to an advertising-driven business model. Deep down in the trenches, its software developers haven't gotten the news that Microsoft software has to play well with others. It seems IE7 is still going for the throat of Firefox -- the latest instance occurs when IE breaks Web links in Outlook if it's not the default browser. And Microsoft's Windows Live Shopping site won't work with Firefox at all. The company says it's working to fix the problem. My guess is it's not a bug, it's a still-pervasive attitude in Redmond.
Continue reading "Microsoft 'Ware Still Needs Work On Playing Well With Others..."
Microsoft 'Ware Still Needs Work On Playing Well With Others
Two stories point up the trouble Microsoft is having with its transition to an advertising-driven business model. Deep down in the trenches, its software developers haven't gotten the news that Microsoft software has to play well with others. It seems IE7 is still going for the throat of Firefox -- the latest instance occurs when IE breaks Web links in Outlook if it's not the default browser. And Microsoft's Windows Live Shopping site won't work with Firefox at all. The company says it's working to fix the problem. My guess is it's not a bug, it's a still-pervasive attitude in Redmond.
Continue reading "Microsoft 'Ware Still Needs Work On Playing Well With Others..."
Daily News Podcast For Thursday, May 4
In today's daily news podcast, we detail how the federal government wants to dismiss the class-action spy suit against AT&T, tell you about a patch for a serious flaw in the Firefox browser, and present five innovative hardware and software technologies that have the potential to change all the rules. The comments of the day focus on Apple's battle of the wills against the major record labels.
Your host today is Mitch Wagner.
Background music: "Blended Souls," courtesy Digital Riffs Music under Creative Commons License
Apple: Bully For You?
There's no doubt that Apple is flying high.
In addition to muscling a sweet deal with the industry's four largest music distributors (Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, EMI Group, and Sony BMG Music Entertainment) to continue selling songs in its iTunes store for $.99, its brawl with France, over whether copyrighted work like music on iTunes, needed to be interoperable, was for all practical purposes made moot.
Continue reading "Apple: Bully For You?..."
Sun's R&D Chief Gets Out His Magnifying Glass
Scott McNealy's decision to cede his Sun Microsystems CEO title to his protégée, Jonathan Schwartz, last week after 22 years at the helm has grabbed most of the computer industry's interest around the storied company. When pressed on how his tenure would differ from McNealy's, Schwartz downplayed any shift in strategy. "The network is the computer," then and now, he said on a conference call with reporters.
But an overlooked artifact of the CEO switch is Schwartz's order for a top-to-bottom engineering review of Sun's technology projects over the next three months, headed by Greg Papadopoulos, who took on the new title of executive VP of research and development at Sun last week. When I talked to Papadopoulos late last week, he said no Sun engineer will escape his scrutiny. Could there be more changes in the offing than appeared at first glance?
Continue reading "Sun's R&D Chief Gets Out His Magnifying Glass..."
Women IT Pros Still Earn Less, But Why?
If you're a female tech professional, there's good news and bad news about pay, depending on your role and also how you tend to look at things.
Continue reading "Women IT Pros Still Earn Less, But Why?..."
Lance Armstrong Calls On IT Industry In Fight Against Cancer
Lance Armstrong, who overcame testicular cancer to win a record seven Tour de France bike races, laid down a challenged to the IT industry Tuesday at the World Conference on IT (WCIT) in his home town of Austin, Tex., to improve technology for the treatment of cancer.
Armstrong said technology advancements such as the widespread availability of the Internet have improved dramatically since he was first diagnosed with cancer, allowing those with cancer and their families to better access data and create support networks.
Continue reading "Lance Armstrong Calls On IT Industry In Fight Against Cancer..."
Firefox Extension: So Many Videos, So Little Time
I spend way too much time surfing addons.mozilla.org -- tough work, to be sure, but someone has to do it. Here's a new Firefox extension that I think a lot of you will enjoy, if only because of the time you'll save with it: VideoDownloader.
Continue reading "Firefox Extension: So Many Videos, So Little Time..."
And Another Thing: A Sixth Reason Why There's No Bubble
In the face of speculation over another tech bubble, InformationWeek has ventured five good reasons why it ain't necessarily so. The reasons range from tighter VC funds to IT departments keeping a firm grasp on the checkbook. I can think of a sixth.
Continue reading "And Another Thing: A Sixth Reason Why There's No Bubble..."
Daily News Podcast For Wednesday, May 3
In today's daily news podcast, we detail Cisco CEO John Chambers' vision for "telepresence"-style teleconferencing, examine a proposal to raise the H-1B visa ceiling, and review new virtual server plans from Microsoft. The comments of the day focus on blogs, daily newspapers, and journalism ethics.
Your host today is Tom Smith.
Background music: "Derail," by Miles Low, courtesy The Cow Exchange under Creative Commons License
When Did H-1Bs Become The Noncontroversial Immigration Issue?
Sitting next to the debate about widespread immigration reform, expanding the number of H-1B visas available suddenly doesn't seem too hot to handle.
Continue reading "When Did H-1Bs Become The Noncontroversial Immigration Issue?..."
Blogs And Ethics Can Coexist
The Internet for years has been cutting into the circulation bases and advertising revenue of daily newspapers. The dailies have been generally slow to adapt as Web sites offered the timeliest possible news, blogs, and compelling online presentations that featured lots of links to outside and related resources.
Continue reading "Blogs And Ethics Can Coexist..."
A Zettabyte Is One Sextillion Bytes -- Ooh, Baby!
Sun has announced that Solaris will be updated with 128-bit file system addressing. Sun is calling it the Zettabyte File System. A zettabyte is one sextillion bytes. How big is that? Enough to address "all the disks currently on the planet," says a Sun guy. Ooh, doesn't it just give you tingles when geeks talk numbers like that!
Continue reading "A Zettabyte Is One Sextillion Bytes -- Ooh, Baby!..."
A Zettabyte Is One Sextillion Bytes -- Ooh, Baby!
Sun has announced that Solaris will be updated with 128-bit file system addressing. Sun is calling it the Zettabyte File System. A zettabyte is one sextillion bytes. How big is that? Enough to address "all the disks currently on the planet," says a Sun guy. Ooh, doesn't it just give you tingles when geeks talk numbers like that!
Continue reading "A Zettabyte Is One Sextillion Bytes -- Ooh, Baby!..."
Daily News Podcast For Tuesday, May 2
In today's daily news podcast, RIM gets sued--again--as the mobile E-mail wars rage on; smarter spam could mimic "real" E-mail, making it more difficult to catch; the new generation of Wireless-N gear may not be interoperable, so buyers beware; higher education tackles the problem of Wi-Fi capacity; Google accuses Microsoft of mischief with the new version of Internet Explorer preset to use the MSN search feature; a researcher says Oracle needs to patch 44 more bugs; AMD reports a potential heat problem with some Opteron chips; we offer five reasons why we're not in a tech boom; and Skype introduces some corporate products.
Today's In Depth is about kids' online safety, and our editorial comments are about how parental involvement is the number-one factor in keeping kids safe.
Your host today is Johanna Ambrosio.
Background music: "Waiting Takes Time," courtesy The Cow Exchange under Creative Commons License
Welcome To The Virtual World
Virtualization is unquestionably hot. With a host of vendors rolling out hardware and software solutions boasting a long list of benefits and lots of talk about optimizing IT resources what is not to like? Well, as tremendous as the technology can be, managing it requires some very special considerations.
Continue reading "Welcome To The Virtual World..."
Welcome To The Virtual World
Virtualization is unquestionably hot. With a host of vendors rolling out hardware and software solutions boasting a long list of benefits and lots of talk about optimizing IT resources what is not to like? Well, as tremendous as the technology can be, managing it requires some very special considerations.
Continue reading "Welcome To The Virtual World..."
VIDEO: Five Ways To Keep Kids Safe Online
Technology is creeping into our everyday lives. In most cases that's a good thing. But when real creeps are creeping into our children's lives with the help of technology, that's intolerable. You can watch my video on the subject below.
If you wish to get the latest version of Flash player, please download it here.
Continue reading "VIDEO: Five Ways To Keep Kids Safe Online..."
The Price Isn't Right: More Than Big Bucks Needed For Some Net Entrepreneurs To Sell
Lots of entrepreneurs made a quick buck during the Internet boom selling their embryonic businesses to companies at obscene prices. They knew they had to bail, considering they realized their businesses plans were, at best, half-baked.
Continue reading "The Price Isn't Right: More Than Big Bucks Needed For Some Net Entrepreneurs To Sell..."
Kids Online: Where Are The Parents?
The resounding message I kept hearing while reporting on one of the features in this week's edition of InformationWeek is that we parents are, by and large, abdicating our duty to our kids. And that if parents took a more proactive role, many of the problems kids are running into would be mitigated or stopped before they even began.
Continue reading "Kids Online: Where Are The Parents?..."
Vista: the 'Anti-Linux'?
BitLocker, a security feature of Windows Vista, may serve not just one purpose, but two, according to a post on The Register. BitLocker is Microsoft's catchy name for hardware-based encryption that is designed to protect your data if your PC is stolen. But it may also be designed to keep you from dual-booting Linux, according to the report.
Continue reading "Vista: the 'Anti-Linux'?..."
Vista: the 'Anti-Linux'?
BitLocker, a security feature of Windows Vista, may serve not just one purpose, but two, according to a post on The Register. BitLocker is Microsoft's catchy name for hardware-based encryption that is designed to protect your data if your PC is stolen. But it may also be designed to keep you from dual-booting Linux, according to the report.
Continue reading "Vista: the 'Anti-Linux'?..."
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