InformationWeek Daily - Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2008

Follow The Election News On Twitter And Skip The Babbling Pundits Twitter is a great tool for following breaking news stories when you're just looking for the latest information and don't want to wade through an endless torrent of bull from pundits, analysts, commentators, and bloggers. Many news organizations feed their headlines to Twitter, and following those accounts gives you a concentrated source of facts without the fluff. On Election Night, I'll be looking to Twitter as my main source of information. I've compiled a list of links to headline services using Twitter, including Fox News, the International Herald Tribune, The New York Times, and more. Visit my blog to find them. I first learned the value of using Twitter to keep up with breaking news during the Southern California fires of 2007. The TV news was filled with endless chatter and speculation and man-in-the-street interviews. I was interested in none of that. What I wanted to know was: Where are the fires? Are they close to our house? Twitter cut through the nonsense and provided that essential information. Likewise, Tuesday night, all I'm going to be interested in is who's winning, and (eventually) who won. I asked Twitter co-founder Biz Stone if he could add any feeds to our list of breaking news feeds, and he pointed me at the Twitter Brand Index, which has evolved into the terrific Social Brand Index, which lists companies participating in Twitter and the competing Identi.ca service, broken down by industry. Check out their media index for your favorite local or international news source, as well as special-interest publications (such as your favorite technology publication). What are your favorite Twitter news feeds? Let us know. Mitch Wagner mwagner@techweb.com www.informationweek.com
"The idea of an election is much more interesting to me than the election itself...The act of voting is in itself the defining moment." -- Jeff Melvoin, Northern Exposure, Democracy in America, 1992
Photo Gallery: Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference Get a glimpse of the conference where Microsoft allowed an early look at Windows 7, at its first Web-based Office applications, and at its new Azure platform for cloud computing. InformationWeek Reports: The State Of Virtualization Everyone's doing it; eventually, you will, too. This 360-degree report takes a look at what gets virtualized and when.  DOWNLOAD NOW Dell Denies Discrimination In Layoffs The plaintiffs claim that Dell engineered layoffs of more than 8,000 employees, singling out women and employees over 40. How To Follow The Presidential Election On The Web For the first time ever, The Associated Press, which reaches 61 million unique visitors through 2,100 affiliate sites, will stream continuous live election video online. FCC Delays Tuesday Vote, Prepares For 'White Spaces' Ballot The planned Election Day vote on the universal service fund and major revisions to inter-carrier compensation was postponed at the behest of Congress members and telecom execs. Microsoft, LG Team Up For Smartphones In a move aimed squarely at building market share, the companies said they will strategically collaborate on research, marketing, and applications. Blue Cross Venture Fund Awards $5 Million To Software Vendor Initiate Systems' software features algorithms that help reduce health claims that need to be handled manually and get a handle on all sources of data from disparate systems. Amazon Fights 'Wrap Rage' With Easy-Open Packaging The Web retailer's Frustration-Free Packaging initiative aims to reduce the plastic clamshells, coated wire ties, and fasteners that drive consumers crazy. Photo Gallery: Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference Get a glimpse of the conference where Microsoft allowed an early look at Windows 7, at its first Web-based Office applications, and at its new Azure platform for cloud computing. T-Mobile Snags 5-Megapixel Cameraphone The Motozine ZN5 has a 5-megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth, and will be $99 with a two-year contract. Semiconductor Industry Revenue Forecast Reduced Researchers with Gartner estimate that 2009 revenue growth will now only be 1% higher than this year to $282 billion. Western Digital Unveils Media Player For Digital TVs The WD TV Media Player enables television playback of high-definition and other entertainment stored on a USB external storage device, without networking equipment, wiring, or software. Google Patches Android Security Flaw The company's over-the-air update fixes a browser vulnerability that could enable hackers to gain access to information like saved passwords. Circuit City To Close 155 Stores, Lay Off Thousands The gadget seller blames retrenchment on the economy and tight credit markets. All Our Latest News See InformationWeek's daily breaking news on your mobile device, visit mobile.informationweek.com and sign up for daily SMS notifications.	Dell Denies Discrimination In Layoffs How To Follow The Presidential Election On The Web FCC Delays Tuesday Vote, Prepares For 'White Spaces' Ballot Microsoft, LG Team Up For Smartphones Blue Cross Venture Fund Awards $5 Million To Software Vendor Virtualization At The Desktop? Examine how more than 250 companies plan to adopt server virtualization technology in this recent InformationWeek Research report, Server Virtualization. The BI Explosion Examine the business intelligence strategies of 500 companies, including deployment drivers and challenges, spending plans, and vendor selection, in this recent InformationWeek Research report. Linux Vs. Windows 7: The Coming Showdown It's inevitable. With Microsoft's showcasing of Windows 7's pre-beta edition at PDC, the Boys From Redmond have thrown down a gauntlet to the Linux community that's been angling to take over the netbook market (and then maybe the desktop). Anything you can do, they say, we can do better. Google Apps Inventor Rajen Sheth Unplugged Part I: It's Not Just About Mail Anymore Last year, while I was still working for CNET, I was given the opportunity to sit down for a video interview with Rajen Sheth who, within Google, is regarded as the inventor of Google Apps. A few weeks ago, I was back on Google's campus and had an opportunity to catch up with Sheth for an update, this time sans the video crew. The timing of the interview was serendipitously relevant given last week's announcements that Microsoft has both Office Web, a Web-based version of Office and Azure, a platform as a service (PaaS), in the works. Salesforce.com's New Big Buddy: Amazon Salesforce.com's been talking a lot about cloud computing lately, but it's own data center doesn't match the size of its ambitions. So, where would the additional infrastructure come from? The clouds created by this question cleared up a bit today with the unveiling of Salesforce.com's new big buddy: Amazon Web Services. Is There A Surplus Of iPhones? Apple may have hit a home run with the iPhone during the last quarter, but analysts are suggesting that Apple is prepared to slash production of the iPhone by more than 40%. Is LG Finally Going To Make Smartphones? Despite LG's success in the feature phone market, one place it hasn't dipped its toe is the smartphone or business market. That may be about to change. LG has signed a new mobile technology deal with Microsoft. Time's Gadget Of The Year Is Peek? What is going on here? It looks like Time put up a poll for its gadget of the year, and the leader, by a lot, is the e-mail-only handset Peek. I first got wind of Peek a few months ago and have no idea why it's so high up the polls. Primary Storage Data Reduction -- A Process Primary storage data reduction is a series of steps you can take to reduce the amount of capacity dedicated to Tier 1 storage. The most common techniques are archiving, compression, data deduplication, and the use of intelligent storage systems. The question often comes up, what should I do first? Sun Continues To Fade You know you're in trouble when you make the technology pages of the New York Times with a piece about how much money you're bleeding. Such is the case with Sun, which reported a $1.7 billion loss for the first quarter of 2008. And that's not the worst of it. Windows 7 Looking Like A Winner (Plus, Installation Screenshots) I just installed the prebeta build of Windows 7 on my ultimate quad-core PC and boy, am I impressed. Sure, when my son took a look at the screen, he said: "That's Vista." But isn't that the point? It looks to me like Microsoft is getting ready to shed its tainted Vista brand and replace it with a lean, mean, good-looking operating system which works. Call it sheer marketing brilliance. Google Yanks SMS Feature From Gmail Chat Last week, there was much hoopla over the fact that Google added SMS capability to its Gmail chatting program. Looks like everyone got excited for nothing. The feature didn't work, and Google pulled the plug. For now. Windows Update To Get An Update According to the Microsoft Update blog, a substantial update to the Windows Update agent is on the way. The company says this update should increase the speed with which it will scan your system, as well as the number of patches it can download. Real-World SOA: Definition, Implementation and Use of SOA with CentraSite Web services are having a dramatic impact on improving enterprise architecture and application development practices. This paper highlights three sample case studies illustrating how Fujitsu's CentraSite delivers SOA solutions. Forrester Consulting: Unified Communications Delivers Global Benefits This Forrester Consulting study shows how Unified Communications (UC) makes it simpler to contact others over any device in any location, enhancing business agility, cutting costs, and boosting employee productivity. Forrester finds that UC is already delivering major savings for organizations around the world in retail banking, manufacturing and education. Download the full report for free. Software as a Service Research Report No longer a niche software delivery model, software as a service (SaaS) can help small and midsize companies get access to enteprise-class software functionality without having to commit enterprise-level capital resources. Download the full report for free. The Internet & The Developing World The evolution of the Internet has been full of surprises - surprises that have sometimes resulted in radical changes in the commercial landscape, such as the arrival of Amazon, eBay, Google, YouTube, and Skype. Could one of the next big surprises turn out to be linked to developing countries? Read the full report for free from InternetEvolution.com Featured Jobs: Shure Incorporated seeking Project Manager in Niles, IL INVIA Medical Imaging Solutions seeking Software Engineer in Ann Arbor, MI Hebrew Rehabilitation Center seeking Senior Network Analyst in Boston, MA Lowes seeking DC Systems Technician I in Lebanon, OR FedSources seeking Director of Web Products in McLean, VA For more great jobs, career-related news, features and services, please visit our Career Center. 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