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The InformationWeek November 2009 Archive « October 2009 | Main |
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Give Thanks For Low Tech
As families and friends gathered across our great country yesterday, we were celebrating the merits of low tech. I think it should teach us something about how we conceive, build, and deliver any tech.
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China Not So Worried About Math, Computer Skills
President Obama's making a new push to encourage and improve math and science education, in order to keep up in the global economy. In China, meanwhile, math and computer skills rank low as a requirement for driving innovation, a surprising Newsweek survey finds.
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AOL Has A New Logo!
AOL is offering up a tantalizing taste of its post-Time Warner business strategy: a new brand identity, which it plans to formally introduce when it lists on the NYSE on December 10.
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AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon All Offering Black Friday Sales
At least three of the four major network operators in the U.S. have announced sales on devices for the Black Friday shopping bonanza. Here's a round-up of what AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless are offering. My favorite deal is the buy-one-get-one BlackBerry offer that Verizon has scheduled for Friday, November 27.
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Best Buy Rolls Out $99 Android Sale
The holiday shopping season has fully arrived, and stores across the country will be opening early and offering bargains. If you're brave enough to hit the big box retail stores this weekend, Best Buy is offering five different Android handsets for $99 each.
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Be Transparent To The (Open) Core
"Transparency" is a vital term in open source: how easy is it to find out about some aspect of an open source project or product? Matthew Aslett of the 451 CAOS Theory blog went to find out how a number of vendors of open core products stacked up in this regard.
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A Chink In Apples App Store Armor
I've said before the iPhone is nice but what really makes the platform stand out is the App Store that now has over 100,000 apps available. There are grumblings however from an increasing number of developers not happy with the way Apple is treating those that keep the App Store's shelves stocked.
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Exploit Code Targets Internet Explorer Zero-Day
There's exploit code circulating that can be used to target certain versions of Internet Explorer, Microsoft says it's working on a fix.
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IT Owns E-Discovery
Organizations are realizing technological expertise is just as essential as sharp legal analysis when it comes to e-discovery.
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Older Android Phones Get Free Google Navigation
One of the coolest features that comes with the Motorola Droid is the new Google Maps Navigation application. It provides free, voice-guided navigation for the Android 2.0 platform. Google decided to spread the Maps Navigation love around a bit and recently made the app available to devices running Android 1.6.
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HP Picks Worst Name Ever For New Smartphone
Hewlett Packard has occasionally tossed a new iPAQ-branded smartphone into the market more as proof that it can still make them than to scare up any real sales. Its latest smartphone is perhaps one of the best-looking it has ever crafted, but HP crippled it with a terrible, horrible, no-good name.
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Google's New Chrome OS Partner: Ubuntu
Among the people Google's partnering with to build Chrome OS, there's now a very familiar name: Canonical, the folks behind Ubuntu. In their words: "Canonical is contributing engineering to Google under contract" (for Chrome OS).
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Apple Says Users To Blame For iPhone Virus
Did your iPhone catch the new "Duh" iPhone virus? If so, Apple says it's your own fault for jailbreaking the iPhone. iPhones that have not been jailbroken are not susceptible to the virus, and jailbreakers can take steps to protect themselves.
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The Future Of Storage As A Virtual Machine
In our last few entries we looked at what can be done today with storage software running as virtual machines. In this entry we will consider what the future holds for storage as a virtual machine. Storage as a virtual machine may be the only way you apply data services in the future.
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iPhone And Android Dominate Mobile Web Browsing
The iPhone and devices based on Android make up 75% of mobile web traffic according to a recent report by AdMob. These two devices together don't make up anywhere near 75% of the device sales, but they have a disproportionate share of web browsing.
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Prepare for IE9 -- Or Not
Internet Explorer 8 may have just shipped, but last week Dean Hachamovitch who is General Manager for Internet Explorer provided some hints about what is coming with IE9. A release date wasn't one of the hints that was dropped; I think it's far away.
Continue reading "Prepare for IE9 -- Or Not..."
Microsoft, News Corporation Plan Foot-Shooting
Microsoft is reportedly discussing a deal that would see News Corporation remove its Web sites, such as the Wall Street Journal, from Google's index.
Continue reading "Microsoft, News Corporation Plan Foot-Shooting..."
Apple Steps Into AT&T-Verizon Ad War
AT&T just got a partner it its fight with Verizon Wireless. Apple is stepping into the advertising fray with two new commercials that point out features that the iPhone has that Verizon's phones iDon't.
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Can IT Help New Cancer Screening Guidelines?
New recommendations from a federal task force last week about breast cancer screenings have infuriated many cancer survivors as well as medical professional organizations, including the American Cancer Society. The guidelines were based on data analysis of the risks and benefits of mammograms for women under age 50.
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AT&T's iPhone Stranglehold Ending June 2010?
Neither AT&T nor Apple has ever admitted how long the exclusive sales arrangement is for the iPhone. Despite their silence, at least one person strongly believes the deal will end in June 2010, which means the iPhone will then become available via more carriers in the U.S.
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Why Force.com Is Important To Cloud Computing
Shortly before Salesforce.com's Dreamforce conference started last Wednesday, the San Francisco Fire Department had locked the doors to Moscone Center to let the crush of bodies entering it disperse before letting in more attendees. I thought, are you kidding me? All this for a mid-size software company? But as I talked to attendees over the next few days, I began to understand what was stoking such enthusiasm I haven't seen in years in the enterprise software industry.
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Proprietary Software: Still Not Doomed, Sorry
These days, I can scarcely click a mouse without running headlong into some variety of punditry regarding the imminent death of proprietary software thanks to open source. Sorry, I don't believe proprietary software is digging its inevitable collective grave any more than the sun is about to go nova.
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Verizon Snags Samsung's Omnia II With WinMo 6.5
Samsung adds to Verizon Wireless' inventory of Windows Mobile 6.5 devices with the new Omnia II. This media monster packs social networking powers, a five-megapixel camera, support for Divx and Xvid, and comes with a budget-friendly price of $200.
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Will Android Survive?
With the Apple iPhone setting the market on fire, it seems difficult to imagine another platform replicating its success. That isn't going to stop people from trying though. If even only half as successful, there is a lot of money to be made. The latest platform to catch fire is Android. Will it succeed, or be an also ran?
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Encryption Can Get Board's Attention
There are lots of good reasons for IT leaders to pay attention to even the finest details of encryption policies. One of the more practical is that encryption's a board-level concept. As in, the board of directors will feel no hesitation in second guessing decisions not to encrypt data that ends up exposed.Which makes the findings in this week's cover story on encryption all the more surprising.
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Does Ellen Following Me Mean Twitter's A Fad?
Earlier this month talk-show host Ellen began following me (and other tech people) on Twitter. Did her move display something more than just a simple follow?
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Up With Virtual Grid Power
I recently wrote a column for InformationWeek Analytics that got some e-mail responses, and I thought the discussion was interesting enough to post the column and some of the comments that sparked the discussion. So here goes.
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Repurposing Quack Science
CERN's Large Hadron Collider ("LHC") restarted this morning without a hitch, after a year of kludgy delays and nutty rumors that time travelers had sabotaged it. It's time to ratchet up the quack science.
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Word, We Need To Talk
Hey there, Word. How're things? Seems like you're doing okay. I hear you have a new release coming shortly, in Office 2010. In fact, I've been meaning to talk to you about that.
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Thoughts On The Motorola Droid
It's been a few weeks since the Motorola Droid crash-landed on Verizon Wireless, and I wanted to give it a good amount of real-life usage before I reviewed the handset. So, does the Droid live up to the hype, or is it another failed iPhone killer?
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Specs For Next Motorola Android Phone Leak
Based on the spec sheet that's floating about the Interwebs today, it appears as though Motorola's next Android phone is probably headed to AT&T -- which remains to be the only major U.S. carrier not already offering an Android handset.
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Chrome OS Security: Initial Impressions
There is much developers can do to build a secure operating system when limits are set on what devices are supported, and there's no regard for compatibility with all types of software applications. I'm sure it's a luxury some software designers in Redmond and Cupertino certainly envy. But that's the clean shot Google has with its new Chrome OS.
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Motorola Promises Fix For Droid's Goofy Camera
The Motorola Droid has one of the weirdest bugs I've ever heard about. It concerns the camera. It seems some users are finding that the autofocus doesn't work quite right. Motorola says a software fix is on the way.
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Storage As A Virtual Machine Details - Part Two
Completing our storage as a virtual machine re-interviews were conversations we had with EMC and Nexenta. While our last entry focused on systems that leveraged virtual machines to deliver block I/O storage services these two companies are delivering something a little different, NAS services and backup services.
Continue reading "Storage As A Virtual Machine Details - Part Two..."
The Million-Dollar Google Maps API
The U.S. government's Apps.gov Web site provides new visibility into what federal agencies pay for cloud-based applications and commercial software, with offerings from vendors such as Hewlett-Packard, Jive, Microsoft, and Salesforce.com. One of the priciest products on the site: Google's Maps API, which lists for nearly a million dollars.
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Keep Cool Over Open Source License Violations
Shortly before I wrote my post about responsible disclosure of open source licensing violations, Bradley Kuhn (of the Software Freedom Conservancy and Software Freedom Law Center) wrote a post of his own about the same subject. His take: GPL violations are common, everyday things -- and as such should be handled with cool, calm, and collected heads.
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Next-Gen BlackBerry Pearl Makes Appearance
A generous -- and in-focus -- number of images of the unannounced BlackBerry Pearl 9100 have been posted to the Internet. If you're a fan of the Pearl line of smartphones from BlackBerry, it's time to get excited.
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Top Wireless Turkeys Of 2009
Amid a year when the iPhone 3GS was released, Android exploded on the scene after simmering in the form of the T-Mobile G1 for nearly a year and Verizon launching some great ads talking smack about AT&T's performance, there have been a few wireless blunders that are best forgotten. 2009 isn't over yet, but there would need to be something pretty spectacular to top the turkeys on this list.
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Who Needs An IT Department?
The Wall Street Journal had an interesting opinion piece written by Nick Wingfield, a frustrated "consumer" of big-company IT services. His main question is deceptively simple: "Why can't I use whatever technology I want to get my Wall Street Journal work done?"
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Interop: Microsoft Exec Says 'Google Me'
A Microsoft executive speaking at Interop Thursday unwittingly highlighted the challenge his company faces in building brand recognition around its Bing search engine. The exec told audience members seeking his contact info to "Google me."
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Google Chrome OS Coming. Got A Netbook Strategy?
The clock’s running. Google expects Web-optimized netbooks running its OS to be on sale before the end of 2010. That gives you about a year to figure out how you want to handle employee use of this next generation of devices. No sense waiting.
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Interop: Cloud Computing's Portability Gotcha
There were a couple "aha" moments for me at Interop's Enterprise Cloud Summit. The first was that some companies are already storing hundreds of terabytes of data in the cloud. The second was that it can be a slow and expensive process to move that data from one service provider to another.
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Google Chrome OS Unveiled: Nothing But The Web
Today Google aired a webcast where they whipped the curtains all the way off Google Chrome OS for the first time. It's about what most people expected: Chrome OS running on top of a thin layer of Linux, designed for netbooks -- and designed for people whose sole computing experience is the web. It's Google's netbook answer to Android.
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Google Chrome OS Won't Launch For A Year
Today Google shared some information about its upcoming Chrome OS. First, it said there are no betas, no devices, and the operating system is a full year away from actual launch. The good news is that Google open-sourced the code for Chrome OS today. Updated! Video included.
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Blumenthal: Patient Care, Not Tech, Will Drive Meaningful Use
National health IT coordinator Dr. David Blumenthal dropped a big hint about upcoming criteria for giving out e-health records grants. He advised healthcare IT managers to focus on "goals of care" rather than technology.
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iPhone Is No.1, But RIM Owns Top Ten List
The stats are in. During the third quarter of 2009, the Apple iPhone 3GS was the top-selling smartphone in the U.S. Research In Motion, however, owned nearly every other spot in the top ten. Who's the real winner here?
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Open Government: A San Francisco Treat
DataSF.org is San Francisco's major foray into open and transparent government; it is the city giving its vital data back to its citizens. We talked with the city's mayor, Gavin Newsom, several members of his technology team, led by CTO Blair Adams, and some of the early developers who have already built applications around the data. We've captured all of this in a new video documentary.
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Palm's New Smartphones Discounted To Oblivion?
The Palm Pre has been on sale at Sprint for about six months now. Its little brother, the Pixi, just hit store shelves this past weekend. Both can (already) be had for a song and a dance.
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Is It The Apps Or The Phone That Makes The Platform?
Apple spends a lot of time emphasizing what you can do with the phone, and most of that is related to the apps, not the platform or any of its built in functions. With over 100,000 apps available, whatever you want to do, "There's an app for that." Are the apps more important than the platform? Microsoft's Ray Ozzie doesn't think so.
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The New Office 2010 Beta: Is Microsoft Winning The Last War?
For most modern businesses, Microsoft Office is the standard for productivity applications. So the arrival of Microsoft 2010 -- now going into beta for release next year -- is big news. But after a couple weeks of working with the new release it seems that Microsoft has done a great job -- of winning the last war.
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AT&T Airs Weak 'Comeback' Commercial Against Verizon
Though the current feud between AT&T and Verizon Wireless borders on the ridiculous, it isn't stopping either company from continuing the schoolyard brawl. AT&T was dealt a blow in court today and came out swinging in response. Its own "attack ad" -- if you can call it that -- misses the mark.
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A Useful Outsider Perspective On Evil IT
Some of the best advice on being an IT executive that I ever got was from an ex-boss. Jonathan, he said, there are two types of CIOs. The first type looks into the data center, and the second looks out of the data center to interact with customers. The first type, he said, isn't nearly as useful and doesn't last nearly as long.
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Phishers Target Apple Customers In New Attack
While OS X is targeted by a far fewer number of viruses than other operating systems, that's not stopping fraudsters from trying to hit Mac users with fraud.
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The Future of Content Management
From increased collaboration to business intelligence to better integration with applications, enterprise content management is evolving. Take our reader survey and let us know where you think ECM is heading.
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The Ads, Oh They Are A Commin
Apple and Google have been planning to leverage the popularity of mobile devices to serve up ads to enhance their bottom lines. Now that devices are powerful enough to browse the normal web and bandwidth concerns are minimal, this looks like the perfect time to jump in in a big way.
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Interop: Which Cloud Is Right For You?
Look up in the sky and you might see cirrus, stratus, or cumulus clouds. Similarly, cloud computing comes in multiple flavors. The one you should choose depends on, among other things, how much vendor lock-in you’re prepared to accept in exchange for banishing complexity from your IT organization.
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Surprise: Microsoft Intros Office Mobile 2010
Right smack in the middle of today's announcement of Microsoft Office 2010 was a teeny little paragraph noting that Office Mobile 2010 is already available to Windows Mobile 6.5 phones in beta form.
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The Days Of Empire
Atari and Cryptic Studios are going to launch a MMORPG based on the Star Trek universe in early February, and reading about it has made me rather teary-eyed for the old days of Empire.
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Microsoft Pioneers Cloud Framework As A Service
"Who would have imagined the explosion of interest in the cloud?" asked Ray Ozzie, Microsoft chief software architect, at the opening of Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference this week in Los Angeles. Well, Ozzie foresaw it and he listened to developers on how to best position his company.
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Don’t Just Manage Your Data -- Know it
There are countless ways to manage data available to the storage manager today but most of these solutions look at data as a problem. Few take an asset view of data, understanding that it is something to be cultivated and leveraged for future use. Storage managers should do more than just manage their data, they should know it.
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The Trouble With Movable Type 5
I've been using Movable Type as my blogging system of choice for several years now -- not just because it's open source but because it's a good program with great features. And yet the newest revision, version 5, feels like it falls far short of what could -- and needs -- to be done.
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Google Introducing Chrome OS November 19
Members of the media were invited to Google's headquarters for the official unveiling of Chrome OS, the new operating system from Google. Details were few and far between, but don't expect Chrome OS to become widely available until 2010.
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YouTube Direct Forgets Payments
YouTube on Tuesday introduced YouTube Direct, a Web platform designed to help media organizations solicit, screen and rebroadcast video clips submitted by citizen journalists.
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Force.com Vs. Azure: Competition In The Clouds
More than 15,000 people are attending the Dreamforce conference in San Francisco starting Tuesday night—good proof that Salesforce.com is fulfilling its destiny as a cloud computing platform provider. (This many people wouldn't show up for a CRM conference.) Meanwhile, down in L.A., Microsoft execs are talking to developers about building apps to run on Windows Azure. Is that the crash-boom-bang of competitive thunderclouds I hear on the horizon?
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Airport Wi-Fi Users Are Rich And Big Spenders
A new study from JiWire unearths some interesting bits of information regarding Wi-Fi use at airports. More than half of users tend to make more than $100,000 per year, and 75% plan to make a big-ticket purchase in the next 12 months. Does that describe you?
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EMC and HP Battle For Laptop Backup
EMC's Avamar 5.0 and HP's DPNE bring backup with dedupe to laptops and desktops, but they each take a very different approach to backing up PCs.
Continue reading "EMC and HP Battle For Laptop Backup..."
YouTube To Journos: Use Citizen Contributions
Trained journalists are under increasing pressure from average citizens who are often first to take pictures, shoot video, and report on events as they unfold. Rather than pit them against one another for eyeballs, Google is unrolling YouTube Direct, a way for journalists to reach out to citizen contributors and re-broadcast their videos to regional or national audiences.
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Web 2.0 Expo: Search Goes Social
The classic Internet search model, where users type in a query and are confronted with page upon page of links ranked by someone else’s idea of relevance, is giving way to a more efficient paradigm in which results are informed by who the searcher is, who his or her friends are, where they live, and other user-centric data.
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Linux's Future: Google?
Laugh (or cry) if you want. But with each successive release of Android, and with each new iteration of Chrome -- soon to be ChromeOS -- it's looking more and more like Linux's future as any kind of mainstream product is in Google's hands. There's a lesson here.
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Uncle Sam's $24 Million Cloud App
The U.S. government's cloud computing portal, Apps.gov, may be a breakthrough in fast, efficient, and transparent IT acquisition, but that doesn't mean it's cheap. Witness the multimillion-dollar software modules available to government agencies on the site.
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Verizon Lashes Back At AT&T Over Lawsuit
On Monday, Verizon Wireless officially responded to lawsuits filed against it by AT&T. Verizon calls AT&T's lawsuits "meritless," points out that the ads are factually accurate and that "the truth hurts."
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Windows Marketplace For Mobile Deep Dive
As indicated previously, Microsoft has released a client for Windows Mobile 6.0 and 6.1 users giving them access to app store that WinMo 6.5 users have had access to for just over a month. Deciding on whether or not to install this is a no brainer - do it. You won't regret it.
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Let's Watch Twitter Become FriendFeed
It seems the hot Twitter news these days is that the service might be slowing in U.S. traffic growth. More importantly, is Twitter continuing to creep closer to FriendFeed's feature set?
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WinMo 6.0 and 6.1 Gain Access To Marketplace
Have you been longing for access to applications on your Windows Mobile 6.0 or 6.1 smartphone? Jealous that Windows Mobile 6.5 can and you can't? Be jealous no more, as users of WinMo 6.0 and 6.1 can download and install Microsoft Marketplace for Windows starting today.
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Encryption Is Cloud Computing Security Savior
I'm beginning to think that fears about cloud security are overblown. The reason: an intellectual framework is already in place for protecting data, applications, and connections. It's called encryption. What's evolving now, and isn't anywhere near fully baked, is a set of agreed-upon implementations and best practices. Today's post talks about some relevant and interesting work from Trend Micro and from IBM.
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Reporting Health IT Security Compliance Gets Easier
The Health Information Trust Alliance (HITRUST) has unveiled a new program that helps streamline how healthcare organizations report to their business associates their status of compliance to security regulations such as HIPAA and others.
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Blumenthal: Tear Down E-Health Barriers
The U.S.'s top e-health official urged healthcare organizations to tear down the barriers to effective exchange of e-health records in a message to healthcare providers.
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Storage As A Virtual Machine Part Two - Details
As we dive deeper into the storage as a virtual machine concept we went back and re-interviewed some of the players in the storage as a virtual machine market, focusing specifically on what they provide. The first two conversations were with DataCore and HP. We will cover more suppliers as the series unfolds.
Continue reading "Storage As A Virtual Machine Part Two - Details..."
Palm Talks Smack About Android
Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein recently said that Android is for "techies" and webOS (its own smartphone platform) is for "people." He also said that he thinks webOS doesn't need 80 gazillion applications to become appealing to the masses. Really?
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Let's Have Responsible Disclosure For Open Source Violations
Last week brought news about Microsoft inadvertently using open source code in one of their binary-only tools -- code that had to be redistributed with the tool itself. When this does happen, what's the best way to bring such a mistake to an offending company's attention? Is shouting about it far and wide always wise?
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Samsung Goes Sci-Fi With Galaxy Android Phone
The onslaught of Android devices is fully under way. The latest salvo comes from Samsung, which announced the Galaxy Spica i5700 Android device. The Galaxy totes an 800MHz processor and a couple of multimedia surprises under the hood.
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Samsung Not Bailing On Windows Mobile
Oh the dangers on blogging on rumors and speculation. Every once in a while, you get it completely wrong. Contrary to what I talked about last week, it seems Samsung is not bailing on Windows Mobile. Quite the contrary - they anticipate increased volume of device powered by Microsoft's mobile platform.
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Microsoft's GPL Gaffe May Be Yours Too
Although Microsoft has been known to dabble in Open Source projects when it suits their business goals, the majority of the company's software is still proprietary and closed to public view. This includes the source to Windows and Office, of course, but it also includes most of the utilities and other support software that Microsoft makes.
Continue reading "Microsoft's GPL Gaffe May Be Yours Too..."
The Web Application Security New Top 10 Risks
With a focus on risks, rather than only ranking software vulnerabilities, the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) has made a significant - and welcomed - change in how the organization rates Web application security weaknesses.
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Palm's webOS 1.3.1 Now Available For Pre
Palm recently made a major system update available for the Palm Pre, its first webOS device. webOS 1.3.1 doesn't introduce any new applications, but it brings in a wide range of improvements to existing applications. The biggest changes are support for Yahoo IM, Calendar and Contacts, and the native email program also sees some major updates.
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Thoughts On The BlackBerry Bold 9700
I've been putting the latest top-of-the-line BlackBerry through the wringer, and it shouldn't be surprising that this is a rock-solid smartphone. But I did have a few minor and major concerns about our favorite messaging smartphone, and continue reading for a full review.
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Windows Mobile Upgrades Not Always Pleasant Process
Even when you have an upgrade available for your Windows Mobile phone, it may not be the most pleasant device upgrade you've ever done. In fact, it can be one of the worst. There is speculation that the WinMo 7 upgrade story will be vastly improved, but for now, we don't have that.
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Garbage In, Garbage Out In Washington
Problems abound with data about stimulus spending being reported on the federal government's stimulus-tracking Website, recovery.gov, as a cursory search for "stimulus" and "errors" on your favorite news search engine should tell you. While many of the numbers have been, quite simply, incorrectly reported by recipients, others are a symptom of greater problems in government IT.
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Communities Vs. Teams: Open Source Needs Both
A curious insight has come from all the recent talk about MySQL / Sun / Oracle. People talk about a community around a given open source product, but there's at least as much talk about a team within it. Let's not neglect the importance of either of those things.
Continue reading "Communities Vs. Teams: Open Source Needs Both..."
AT&T 'Sets The Record Straight' Regarding Verizon Ads
Today AT&T took the unusual step to publish a public letter openly refuting the advertisements that have been run by top competitor Verizon Wireless. In the letter, AT&T calls Verizon's claims "blatantly false."
Continue reading "AT&T 'Sets The Record Straight' Regarding Verizon Ads..."
YouTube Goes High-Def With 1080p Support
Starting next week, YouTube users will be able to upload and watch high-definition videos in full 1080p resolution. Have a high-def video camera? Now you can put it to good use.
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Does MediaFLO's Personal Television Have A Chance?
Today MediaFLO announced its first non-phone FLO TV device, the Personal Television. It uses MediaFLO's mobile TV network and lets users watch live or time-shifted TV in a wide swath of U.S. markets. But $250 for a stand-alone device that requires a monthly contract is a big hurdle to overcome. Can FLO TV do it?
Continue reading "Does MediaFLO's Personal Television Have A Chance?..."
Amazon Data Center Project To Restart
Construction on Amazon.com's boarded up data center in Boardman, Ore., will restart in the "not too distant future," according to a report from KEPR, a local TV station. If all goes as planned, the project will be completed in the third quarter of 2010, say local authorities.
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Methinks They Doth Protest Too Much
Yesterday it appeared that some candidness leaked out from a Microsoft employee who said, "What we’ve tried to do with Windows 7 ... is create a Mac look and feel in terms of graphics." Microsoft blogger Brandon LeBlanc went into PR damage control, saying those comments were "inaccurate and uninformed."
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Amazon Bids For Windows Developers On Eve Of Azure's Launch
Four days before Microsoft launches its Azure cloud platform to developers at a conference in L.A., Amazon has come up with a .Net software development kit to help Windows developers produce code that runs in Amazon's EC2. It's probably just coincidence. But let's see what they're getting with AWS SDK for .Net.
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Does Microsoft's 'Sudo Patent' Protect User Account Control?
Has Microsoft gone one step closer to patenting the words "May I?" That's been the general sentiment about the granting of Microsoft's "Rights elevator" patent -- which would cover User Account Control ("UAC") in Vista and Windows 7, but possibly also the generic sudo command in Unix.
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Data Thinkage
Data storage capacity is cheap. For most environments obtaining enough capacity is no longer a challenge, it is managing that capacity that becomes the problem. Growth, especially in unstructured data, continues unabated. Deciding what data should be where is one of the biggest challenges that the storage manager has to face today. Users don’t want to think about where data should be stored and storage managers don’t have the time to think about it.
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AT&T Attacks Verizon Over 'Misfit' Ads
On Nov. 3, AT&T sued Verizon Wireless over its "There's A Map for That" ad campaign, which poked holes in AT&T's 3G coverage across the U.S. Over the weekend Verizon aired three more anti-AT&T commercials -- and ticked AT&T off. AT&T is demanding that Verizon pull the commercials.
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Carrier Billing Headed To BlackBerry Apps World
When it comes to selling applications to mobile device owners, the easier the better. That's why support for carrier billing is so important. According to Research In Motion co-CEO Jim Balsillie, BlackBerry Apps World will add carrier billing support in 2010.
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Why Google's Go Might Be A No-Go
After news of Google's Go language surfaced, I went to my programmer friend for some additional perspective on Google's new experiment. He wasn't impressed -- and actually, neither was I. We had different reasons.
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Chrome Beta For Mac Landing In December
Google's Chrome browser has been available to the Windows platform for well more than a year. Apple fans have been waiting -- impatiently -- for Google to show them some Chrome love. Turns out the wait is nearly over, as Google is preparing to release a beta version of Chrome for Apple computers in early December.
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The Ebb & Flow Of Mergers
HP announced its takeover of 3Com Corp this week, and the media covered it as 1) a battle in the war with Cisco Systems, and 2) further evidence that tech giants are consolidating to provide "one stop shops" for corporate clients. Are you buying it?
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Shop For WinMo Apps At New Web Site
If browsing for new applications from your phone doesn't qualify as fun in your book, take heart. Microsoft recently made Windows Marketplace for Mobile available from any desktop browser.
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Dates Firm Up For Windows Mobile 7 In 2010
Rumors from China are firming up some key events for Windows Mobile 7. It seems that WinMo 7 is mostly complete and it should be released to manufacturers in Q1 2010. We can then expect handsets to show up in stores in the third quarter.
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Check Out The Xobni App For BlackBerry
At the BlackBerry Developer Conference, I got a chance to sit down and talk with Xobni CEO Jeff Bonforte about the upcoming application for the BlackBerry platform. While it's still a few months away, the Xobni mobile app looks like an excellent way to easily manage thousands of contacts. Keep reading for some more details and a video demonstration.
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Cloud Security In Focus Amid Data Theft Fears
Yeah, I know, this is another one of those "everything changes" moments where we're prodded into frenzied activity--as opposed to effective action--because an emerging technology has surged ahead of our ability to properly manage it. I'm talking about cloud computing, and the attendant fears not just of data theft, but of breaches of SaaS computing resources themselves. Fortunately, there are a bunch of below-the-radar efforts attempting to address these worries.
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One CIO's View On Google Apps And Microsoft Office
Today I chatted with Jeremy Vincent, CIO of Jaguar Land Rover, on his choice of Google Gmail for 15,000 users. You'll read the details of that decision in an upcoming story. But an interesting aside from the Gmail deal is Vincent's interest in Microsoft's plan to put its Office suite in the cloud.
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Veterans Day And Our Military
Today on Veterans Day, we would all do well to remember, thank, and pray for the courageous and selfless men and women of the United States military who put themselves in harm's way so the rest of us don't have to.
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Apple's Profits Crush Nokia's (And Everyone Else's)
Based on the performance of both Apple and Nokia in the most recent financial quarter, Apple is now the most profitable maker of cell phones. It earned $1.6 billion in profits compared to Nokia's $1.1 billion. Nokia, by the way, sells hundreds of millions more phones than Apple does.
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Oracle Says EU Doesn't Get Open Source
What is it that the EU doesn't understand about how open source works? That seems to be a good part of the substance of Oracle's objections to, well, the EU's objections to Oracle acquiring Sun. Never mind that many governments in the EU mandate the use of open source in their own work, and have a slightly better than passing acquaintance with it.
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Google Offers 20GB Of Gmail Storage For $5
Last time I checked, Google offered 7.39GB of Gmail storage to all users for free. I am using 64% of that total, or 4.79GB. If you're a real email hog, you can buy 20GB of additional storage for just $5 per year. The same applies to Picasa Web Albums.
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Microsoft Cloud Sales Exceed Expectations
Microsoft Business Division president Stephen Elop says he's been pleasantly surprised that enterprise customers' demand for cloud-based versions of Exchange and Office have exceeded Microsoft's expectations.
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Samsung Bailing On Windows Mobile
In the coming years, it looks like Samsung will be significantly reducing Windows Mobile in its lineup of smartphones. As one of the largest smartphone makers in the world, taking Windows Mobile from over 80% of your lineup to less than 20% in just a few years is a big shift.
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Here's What's Different About 'The Cloud'
What's different about cloud computing versus the forms of computing that have gone before? It's really just a matter of scale, isn't it? The Google or Amazon.com or eBay data centers are maybe a little bigger than a big enterprise data center, right? Wrong. One answer lies in an example like Hadoop.
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The Agency Doth Protest Too Much
In perhaps unwitting participation in the publicity campaign for Columbia Pictures' upcoming doomsday flick "2012," NASA has posted a promise on its web site that "nothing bad will happen to the Earth." Gulp.
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Admiral Warns Cybersecurity Threat Looms For U.S.
This week's 60 Minutes broadcast should make everyone afraid, very afraid, of the real, looming specter of cyberwarfare attacks. As I recently blogged, government agencies are already going full-bore to come up with guidelines to protect federal networks. So when an Admiral goes on national television to say hackers have the ability to take down our power grid, he's doing it to deliver a warning.
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Miguel de Icaza And Mono: Platform-Agnostic Programming Power
Few names in open source are at the level of a household name, but Miguel de Icaza, of Novell's Mono, comes close. Last week I had the good fortune to chat with him for a bit about MonoTools, the new Mono development package for Microsoft Visual Studio -- and about why Mono attracts such bitterness from open source purists.
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Droid Round-Up: Opening Sales And Firmware Update
Though neither Motorola nor Verizon Wireless has provided any official numbers, it appears as though about 100,000 Droids may have sold the first weekend the new Android phone was available. Also, based on internal documents, Verizon is already planning a major system update for both the Droid and HTC Eris Android phones.
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Supreme Court Awaits Funding For Website Facelift
As the Obama administration readies its open government directive for the executive branch of the U.S. government, the judicial branch of the government awaits word of funding for much-needed updates to the Supreme Court's Website.
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Bada-Bing: Samsung Intros New Mobile OS
Samsung has taken it upon itself to step up and deliver what no one asked for: another mobile operating system. Today, Samsung announced "Bada," a new, open platform that Samsung hopes will be the feature-phone OS of the future.
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Google Offering Free Airport Wi-Fi For Holidays
In what could be called a thinly veiled attempt to shine up its image, Google is offering holiday travelers free Wi-Fi at approximately 47 U.S. airports from now until January 15, 2010. Make sure your employees are protected.
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Storage Services As A Virtual Machine
Traditionally storage systems and other storage related services have been delivered as customized systems. This was done to maintain performance and to reduce support costs to the manufacturers. As server technology continues to increase in performance, the concept of providing storage services as a standalone application installed on your own server hardware is becoming increasingly popular. Now with virtualization the storage as an application concept is being applied to virtual machines.
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iPhone Coming To Verizon Q3 2010
Apple will be releasing an iPhone that will work with all cell phone networks in the third quarter of 2010 according to an industry insider. This means that instead of making a CDMA and GSM version, they will make one UMTS/CDMA hybrid phone, and it also means Verizon will be the likely beneficiary in the US.
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Google Voice May Offer Actual Voice Calls
Right now, Google Voice's primary function is to provide call-forwarding and message transcription services. That may change, however, with the reported purchase of Gizmo5 by Google.
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Windows 7, U.S.A.
Having made its case for Windows 7 in the business and consumer markets, Microsoft is taking its pitch to the nation's capital. Which raises a question: Would the U.S. government do a better job of running the country using Microsoft's new operating system?
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Google: No More Money For Clearwire
Over the weekend, Sprint and a number of other companies agreed to invest another $1.5 billion into Clearwire, the growing provider of WiMax services. Notably absent on the list of financiers was Google, which has previously given cash to Clearwire.
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Despite Security Concerns, Social Networks Soar
Security firm Palo Alto Networks peeked at the application use of more than 200 organizations around the globe, and found social networking growth on corporate networks is on fire. Will security concerns be the extinguisher? Don't count on it.
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A Litl Redux
After my Thursday column about the litl, readers pointed my attention to a blog post where the folks at litl (all lowercase) further defended their reasons for its rather top-heavy $700 price point. I went in expecting some real meat for discussion. I came away with a nearly empty plate.
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Next For India? Business Analytics
Accenture is adding 8,000 positions to its Indian operations, a move that will push the outsourcer's total headcount on the subcontinent to about 50,000. Many of the new employees will work on business analytics tools. Last week, IBM opened a biz analytics lab in the country. Smell a trend yet?
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Apple Prepping $99 iPhone 3GS To Battle Competition?
Right now, AT&T offers the iPhone 3G 8GB for $99, and the iPhone 3GS 16GB and 32GB for $199 and $299, respectively. Despite word from Apple's own Phil Schiller that the company's lineup is set for holiday sales, reports of a $99 iPhone 3GS 8GB model have hit the 'net.
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CIOs Flaunt Risk, Say CFOs
A recent panel discussion called "CFO/CIO Straight Talk" revealed that some finance chiefs believe their IT leaders don't have a good grasp on risk management and are still too eager to pursue big-bang projects. Looking inward, those same CFOs say their own lack of imagination is also a problem.
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Search, And Failure Of 'Consumer Effect'
We’ve written a lot about the consumer effect, how employees fall in love with consumer tech like iPhones and instant messaging, then demand the same experience at work. So why has this effect failed to drive enterprise search?
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Vulnerabilities In The Apple iPhone
Apple has two recently discovered vulnerabilities that can put user data at risk. One is implemented by a developer that has accessed a backdoor to transmit user data back to its servers without Apple's or the user's knowledge. The other is an exploit in the wild that logs in with root access. Just as Windows' popularity on the desktop has made it the target of hackers and unscrupulous software developers, it seems the iPhone's popularity has made it a target as well.
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Verizon Attacks iPhone With Holiday Ads
The gloves are still off. Verizon Wireless has unleashed another volley aimed at AT&T and the iPhone. In this latest round of anti-iPhone advertisements, the iPhone is banished to the Island of Misfit Toys and substituted for "coal" in the stockings of "naughty people."
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The Klondike Bar Problem
During the 19th century, P. T. Barnum supposedly said, "There's a sucker born every minute." In the 21st century, those suckers now fall for PC-based scams. In the process, they hurt more than just themselves or their PCs.
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JailBroken iPhones Targeted By Rick-Rolling Worm
The SANS Institute Internet Storm Center is warning users of jailbroken iPhones that a new worm is targeting their hacked phones. So how dangerous is it, really?
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OfficeMedium Offers An Intranet And Collaboration Service
A new player has entered the Intranet and collaboration space. OfficeMedium aims to help small businesses with their team business and communication needs.
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VDI And Netbooks: ROI Peanut Butter And Chocolate
Man, it's great talking to folks who are actually taking a chance on new ways of doing things instead of just speculating about doing it. I chatted with Mary Ann Buch today. She's the director of technology for a school district in upstate New York. They've actually been using Netbooks and VDI for a proof of concept project in the classroom. Kids and teachers like it, and she says the financial models are pretty compelling. "It's just a school district"? "That doesn't apply to my for-profit enterprise"? Think again.
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What's The Definition Of Cloud Computing?
What's the definition of cloud computing? I keep asking myself that question and hearing different answers. Despite the frequent use of the term, it still means different things to different people. That was evident at the Cloud Computing Conference & Expo this week in Santa Clara, where I thought I would find consensus.
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Facebook Security Crisis Could Derail Social Nets
There's a security problem on the horizon, which could derail the progress of social networking has made in breaking down the barriers between business and personal Internet usage. (Whether that's a good thing or not is a separate argument.) I'm speaking of the rising tide of fake Facebook messages, phishing threats, and malware.
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Is Ignorance A Synonym For Trust?
Google CEO Eric Schmidt is out making the media rounds in support of the Android launch, and during a Fox Business interview he touched on the issue of data privacy and control. It got me thinking that the subject was the real reason he's out and about.
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Android Gets App Love From Photoshop And Slacker
Coinciding with the availability of the Motorola Droid and the HTC Eris at Verizon Wireless stores today, the Android Market is featuring two juicy, new applications. Photoshop.com Mobile and Slacker Radio mean more photo editing and Internet radio powers for Android lovers.
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Droid Tries Harder
Ever since Avis made it respectable for a brand to be #2, there have been many really good examples of trailing entrants into product markets that achieve success, especially in the technology world. Is Motorola's new Droid the latest example?
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Open Source You Can Use, November Edition
In this edition: two ways to browse the web, and one great way to find everything scattered across all your storage media. Read on.
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Inventor Of Cellphones Says They're Too Complicated Now
Former Motorola researcher Martin Cooper -- one of the inventors of the cellphone back in 1973 -- says that the devices do too much these days, and don't do any of them well. Is a JitterBug in Cooper's future?
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Best Buy Agrees To Distribute Google Mobile App
Not sure what to make of this one, as it feels slightly oily. Google and Best Buy announced a new program whereby Best Buy employees will help customers download and install the Google Mobile app on their brand new cell phone.
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Sprint And T-Mobile Headed The Wrong Direction
Sprint and T-Mobile are in the "big four" club of American carriers, but it seems Verizon and AT&T continue to grow while Sprint and T-Mobile are losing out. T-Mobile just reported that they lost 77,000 net subscribers in the third quarter and Amazon has killed the Kindle that works on the Sprint network.
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Microsoft To Patch 15 Vulnerabilities
As part of its monthly ritual, Microsoft in its Security Bulletin Advanced Notification for this month warned of a number of nasty vulnerabilities in its operating systems and productivity software.
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Windows 7 Is Broken, So What?
Anyone who's used computers knows that Windows 7 has problems. Not as many problems as Vista, perhaps, but if you are betting that Windows 7 will work perfectly you are making a sucker bet. Microsoft has never made a bug-free operating system in its entire history. That isn't going to change any time soon.
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Sprint And Verizon To Offer BlackBerry 8530 Curve
Buried in the coverage of Verizon's second Android phone (HTC Droid Eris) today was news about a new, entry-level BlackBerry that's headed to both Sprint and Verizon Wireless. The 8530 is a smaller, less expensive Curve that should appeal to the mass market more than the enterprise user.
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HP's Hurd, IBM's Palmisano Agree: Cloud Is Lousy Name
Sure, Hewlett-Packard CEO Mark Hurd and IBM CEO Sam Palmisano spit nails at each other over most things, but on this they agree: while cloud computing has tremendous potential as a technological approach, the term itself is a lousy name. We're with you, guys, but please: whatever the new name is, no more three-letter acronyms, okay?
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Droid On Sale At Midnight In Some Stores
Verizon Wireless stores are planning to open early tomorrow morning -- and in some cases at midnight -- to let eager customers purchase the Motorola Droid. Anyone think the Droid is going to stir up iPhone-like excitement?
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NetSuite: A Study On Cloud Computing's Potential
Will companies move their core business applications to the cloud? It's one of the great unanswered questions, and one reason NetSuite is so interesting to watch. Based on NetSuite's third–quarter financial report, the answer to this question remains partly cloudy.
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Too Much Netbook For Too Litl?
A Boston-based startup named Litl is taking a big risk: they're betting people will go for a netbook that sports a Linux-based OS and focuses on Web-/network-based productivity (Facebook, Twitter, etc.). The risk is in the pricetag: $700 -- almost twice the price of computers that can do twice as much. Is there a market for this?
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What To Do With Too Much Storage Performance
I recently concluded a series that examined the components of the storage environment that can impact overall storage I/O performance. There was storage I/O bandwidth, controllers and drives. What if you are like many data centers and you don’t need to wring out every drop of storage I/O performance from your storage infrastructure? What should you do with too much storage performance?
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HTC Droid Eris Kneecaps Motorola Droid At $99
If you thought Verizon Wireless was going rest easy with the Motorola Droid launching Friday, you've got another thing coming. Today, Verizon Wireless announced that the HTC Eris -- a.k.a, Hero -- which hits stores November 6, too, for $99.
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America's Top 10 Most Satisfying Phones In August
In the phone world, a list of top phones two months ago is really outdated, but it is an interesting snapshot at what is grabbing our mobile communication attention and are satisfying us most. August is particularly interesting as this would be right after the iPhone 3.0 and Palm Pre launched.
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Verizon: $350 ETF Is A Go
Verizon Wireless has confirmed that it is in fact altering its Early Termination Fee policy. Starting November 15, those purchasing "advanced" devices such as smartphones and laptops, will need to agree to a $350 ETF to get the subsidized price.
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Lines Blur Between Voice and Social Networking
Siemens Communications will integrate Twitter with its Unified Communications (UC) platform, and PBworks announces plans to offer voice alongside its collaboration and social software services.
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T-Mobile Adding Own Channel To Android Market
Today T-Mobile CTO Cole Brodman shared a number of data points regarding T-Mobile's Android customers. T-Mobile apparently has high hopes for Android adoption, as it is planning to roll out its very own T-Mobile Channel in the Android Market. It will also make carrier billing a reality later this year.
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Tech Pros Want Security, Healthcare, Green Certifications
Techies are seeking professional certifications in emerging areas like healthcare and green IT, and especially old standbys like IT security, according to a new survey.
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Is Microsoft Bing Fake Search?
Discussing Microsoft's new price cuts for cloud apps, my colleague Mary Hayes Weier reported Microsoft VP Ron Markezich said he's seen no evidence that Zoho or others offering "fake Office capabilities" can match Microsoft Office. Counterpunching, Zoho CEO Sridhar Vembu asks if that means Bing is fake search"?
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Are Healthcare IT Grants Worth The Hassle?
While the U.S. American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) promises big bucks to healthcare providers that implement effective IT solutions, healthcare providers wonder whether IT adoption is worth the effort. Speaking at a two-day hearing of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, healthcare providers said healthcare IT is a good idea in theory, but current proposals have many problems.
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More Reasons Why Linux Misses The Desktop
As my colleague Alex Wolfe noted, Linux hasn't made a dent in the desktop after years in the wild. The climb looks all the steeper now that Windows 7 and new versions of Mac OS X have arrived. I can think of a few other reasons why Linux hasn't achieved more than a fractional marketshare with end users, and they aren't pretty. (I've already donned my asbestos suit.)
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Verizon Wireless To Double ETFs To $350?
If you thought $175 was a steep early termination fee to pay, get ready for some unwelcome news. In order to ward off scammers, Verizon Wireless is giving serious consideration to doubling its ETF to $350 for "advanced" -- read: expensive -- devices. Whoa.
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Cisco: It's All About Bandwidth, Stupid!
Analysts who've lately focused on a Cisco's decade-long buying binge will surely weigh in on the networking powerhouse's Monday announcement that it plans to acquire Hong Kong set-top-box maker DVN. Yet most of these financial musings, which focus on Cisco's stock price, are missing the point. It's all about bandwidth, stupid.
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HTC's Whopper HD2 Smartphone U.S.-Bound
One of the most impressive Windows Mobile 6.5 devices announced in recent months, the HTC HD2, sports a massive 4.3-inch touch display and is powered by a speedy 1GHz Snapdragon processor. If you were worried it would only be available in Europe, rest easy. Today, HTC confirmed that this powerful device is headed to a major U.S. carrier.
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T-Mobile Reports Widespread Outage
T-Mobile has reported a "service disruption" that is affecting most of the country. It seems to be inconsistent. Some people are reporting a total outage while others report that either data or voice works, and a few are reporting no problems at all. As of this writing, the issue still hasn't been totally resolved.
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Enterprise 2.0: The Barrier To Exit
In a moderated discussion at the Enterprise 2.0 Conference in San Francisco on Tuesday, Booz Allen Hamilton VP Art Fritzson and senior associate Walton Smith shared their experiences integrating social and collaborative software into their consulting business.
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Motorola Explains Why Droid Doesn't Have Multi-Touch
One of the minor complaints that some have voiced against the Motorola Droid is that it isn't capable of performing multi-touch gestures, such as pinching to zoom. That complaint only applies to the U.S. version of the phone, though, as the Droid will support multi-touch in European markets.
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AT&T To Verizon: 'There's A Lawsuit For That'
You know the funny ads that Verizon Wireless has been running at AT&T's expense? The ads show AT&T's 3G coverage and compare it to Verizon Wireless's 3G coverage. The punchline of the commercial is "There's a Map for That", which riffs on Apple's "There's An App for That" ad campaign. Well, AT&T doesn't think the commercials are funny, and sued.
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Digital Bedtime Stories Are Tricks, Not Treats
Now there's a way to read bedtime stories to your kids without actually being there. Jason Kottke calls the system "slick." I call it sickening.
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IBM Taps SAP For Global Single-Instance Project
IBM is consolidating its extensive global collection of individual SAP applications and versions into a single global instance that will deliver greater resilience and flexibility to IBM's operations in 170 countries around the world, revealed IBM CIO Pat Toole in an interview yesterday.
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Mainstreaming SSD
Most of the major Solid State Disk (SSD) manufacturers and providers are reporting record sales both in terms of units and capacity being purchased. Much of this success is being driven by cost reductions in the technology and an increased understanding of how to best implement the technology. Mainstreaming SSD is going to require more than just price drops, its going to require intelligent leveraging of the technology.
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OpenOffice: Go Open Core
Oracle's acquisition of Sun is still grinding along, but while the gears are still turning I'd like to throw in a request: Make OpenOffice an open-core product. Keep the main program free, but charge for the useful bonuses.
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Sony Ericsson's Xperia X10 Android Phone A Winner
Today Sony Ericsson introduced its first Android phone, the Xperia X10. Based on the spec sheet, it should be a smash hit. It runs Android 1.6 (Donut) and will have a massive, four-inch WVGA display (480 x 854 pixels). The X10 will be the first in a series of new phones to run Sony Ericsson's home-brewed UX user interface. Let's dive in for a detailed look.
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Turn Your Laptop Into A WiFi Hotspot
If you have Windows 7 on your laptop, you can turn it into a WiFi hotspot allowing other devices to hook up to it as if it were a router and browse the internet. This can come in handy in areas where you have to pay per device to get online, such as a for-pay WiFi hotspot.
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Manhattan DA Announces Major ID Theft Indictment
A Manhattan DA brought an 149-count indictment accusing a computer technician of stealing the identities of more than 150 employees of the Bank of New York Mellon and using those identities to orchestrate more than $1.1 million in thefts against charities and non-profits, among other institutions.
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Linux AWOL From Desktop Upgrades
It hit me the other day that something's missing amid the Windows 7 launch hoopla. Last time around--indeed, during every prior upgrade cycle--we've witnessed the fanboys pop up like Whack-A-Mole survivors to hector us about the big mistake we're about to make and to proffer the open-source operating system as the better option. This time, nada. Why?
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E2TV: Looking Forward To Tammy Erickson’s Keynote
Highlights from the Enterprise 2.0 Conference from San Francisco will be available live, via streaming video, beginning at 8:30 am PST on Tuesday. We kick off with keynote speaker Tammy Erickson, president of the nGenera Innovation Network. Watch by clicking here.
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Microsoft Losing More Ground To Google, Apple
Internet Explorer is slowly losing market share to its biggest rivals, Apple and Google, for reasons as disparate as they are significant.
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iPhone Reception In China Less Than Stellar
The iPhone was officially released in China on the China Unicom network October 30th. They had a big launch party but reception for the device itself was considered tepid compared with other iPhone launches in other countries around the world.
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Google Voice Search Now Speaks Symbian
Today Google finally got around to bestowing the powers of speech unto the Symbian S60 smartphone platform. The newest version of the Google Mobile App for S60 now supports voice-based searching.
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E-Health Privacy Regulations Draw Congressional Fire
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued an interim final rule to beef up penalties for violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accounting Act (HIPAA), as several Congressmen criticize the agency for leaving dangerous loopholes in the law.
Continue reading "E-Health Privacy Regulations Draw Congressional Fire..."
One FatELF Binary To Run Them All
Even Linux's advocates are unthrilled at one of its sticking points: binaries built for one breed of Linux don't always run on another. And since unifying Linux into a common distribution is about as likely as herding a circus ring full of cats into a clown car, people who want to distribute prebuilt binaries for Linux have few choices. Here's a new choice: FatELF, or universal binaries for Linux.
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Google Says 'No Smartphone From Us'
Quashing rumors and leaving little doubt as to Google's intentions, Android architect Andy Rubin recently said in no uncertain terms that Google is not interesting in making any Android smartphones.
Continue reading "Google Says 'No Smartphone From Us'..."
Google Kinks Microsoft's Air Supply
Last week's announcement that the city of Los Angeles was moving to Google Apps was quite a blow to Microsoft. The $7.2 million contract would have given Microsoft legitimacy in the "cloud computing" arena. Instead, Microsoft will find itself essentially paying L.A. to switch to Google.
Continue reading "Google Kinks Microsoft's Air Supply..."
IBM Says Business Analytics Will Outpace ERP Plus CRM
Vowing to continue acquiring vendors of analytics and BI software, the head of IBM's business analytics group said he believes "information-driven transformation" will become bigger and more important than the ERP and CRM categories combined.
Continue reading "IBM Says Business Analytics Will Outpace ERP Plus CRM ..."
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