InformationWeek - All Stories And Blogs

Motorola Sues Ex-Executive For Going To Apple

nospam@cmp.com (Justin Montgomery) — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 00:37:29 EDT

Motorola filed a lawsuit in Illinois a couple days ago against a former executive that left the company to become the head of Apple's iPhone sales division. This comes in a long line of departures for the flailing device maker, as it's lost several valuable employees to rival companies in recent months.

Coke Exploits Collaboration Technology To Keep Brand Relevant

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 00:02:00 EDT

Product ''pipeline'' application offers insight on brand introductions; standardizing business processes will help smooth supply chain.

Oregon Goes Lean, Mean, And Green

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 00:01:40 EDT

The state consolidates its data centers and goes green in the process.

Coke's Largest Bottler Taps Microsoft For SaaS

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 00:01:00 EDT

Coca-Cola Enterprises signs the largest deal yet for Microsoft's online collaboration and e-mail services.

Coke's Customer-Loyalty Web Site Scores Big With Consumers

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 00:01:00 EDT

My Coke Rewards tracks visitors' interest in various prize categories, then uses that to keep them involved.

Down To Business: Dare To Think Differently About U.S. Education

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 00:00:10 EDT

A new book makes the case for a more tech-centric, individualized approach to teaching. Given the current product and the future stakes, we better start shaking the system up in some way.

CIOs Uncensored: The IT Outsider Might Be Your Best Hire

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 00:00:08 EDT

Hiring non-IT talent from another part of the organization will pay benefits, both near-term and long range.

Lessons Learned In San Francisco Hack Job

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EDT

An IT administrator with the city of San Francisco is alleged to have created a private administrative account on systems within the city's FiberWAN project.

Citrix Tools Show Virtualization Isn't All About The Hypervisor

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EDT

The free tools focus on the OVF standard, which should give IT managers more flexibility in deploying virtual machines.

Startup Of The Week: Elastra

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Company's Cloud Server and markup languages give software architects control over applications in the cloud

Action Plan For Data Center Consolidation

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EDT

What to consider before consolidating a data center.

CIO Values: Craig Lathrop, CIO, Americas' SAP Users' Group

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EDT

"I should have asked the tough questions about the value back to the business, which could have lead to a broader examination of the business model."

HP ProCurve Powers A Unified Switching Architecture

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Solid solution taps ProCurve switches and management software, hitting all requirements in our RFI.

7 Enterprise Management Tools That Cost Less Than $10,000

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Low-cost products deliver wide range of capabilities.

Dell's Ubuntu Gets A Hardy Upgrade

nospam@cmp.com (Serdar Yegulalp) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 23:20:12 EDT

Dell's commitment to Ubuntu Linux grows, like Topsy. According to a post on the Direct2Dell blog, Ubuntu 8.04 (the "Hardy Heron" edition) will be coming to the XPS M1330N and Inspiron 1525N notebooks, as well as the Inspiron 530N desktop. Stick the "grandma-approved" label on it, too, as DVDs will play back out of the box (as they did in Dell's 7.10).

iPhone Free Software: Zenbe Lets You Make Checklists

nospam@cmp.com (Mitch Wagner) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 20:40:43 EDT

One of the biggest frustrations of the original iPhone was the lack of a simple utility for making checklists. I want to make a list for a project, tick off each item when completed, and re-use the list when I have to do the same project another day. I don't want to prioritize the items on the list, or color-code them, or categorize them, or tag them, or make origami cranes out of them. I just want to make a checklist.

Is The Air Leaking From Google�s Bubble?

nospam@cmp.com (Richard Martin) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 18:49:59 EDT

Earnings season is in full swing and it's a good moment to pause and review three tech giants that reported in the last two days.

Utilities Ready To Put IT Security Efforts In Place

nospam@cmp.com (George Hulme) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 17:41:44 EDT

The North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) announced this week that it's improving its ability to better manage IT security and critical infrastructure protection efforts to North America's bulk power system.

RIM Fixes BlackBerry Enterprise Server Vulnerability

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 17:34:00 EDT

The flaw could let malicious PDFs cause problems with the BlackBerry Enterprise Server.

Movies In The Cloud

nospam@cmp.com (Roger Smith) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 17:31:17 EDT

The news yesterday that Amazon.com is launching a new streaming video service is sure to get a big thumbs up from tech-savvy film buffs.

She's Got A Ticket To Ride ... Into Space

nospam@cmp.com (Cora Nucci) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 17:30:13 EDT

A story out of France Wednesday might have been ripped from the pages of Charlie And The Chocolate Factory. Only this time the prize is space travel.

Dell Upgrades Linux PCs To Ubuntu's Hardy Heron

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 17:04:00 EDT

The computer maker has launched two notebooks and a desktop with Hardy Heron, the version of Ubuntu Linux that was released in April.

Use Google Mobile To Rate Stuff In Your Neighborhood

nospam@cmp.com (Eric Zeman) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:08:14 EDT

I caught an update on Google's Official Mobile Blog a few days ago about how easy it is to review restaurants and other services in your neighborhood right on your phone. I ate at my favorite local diner yesterday and wrote a review on the spot. It was posted to the Internet in moments. Nifty.

Picture Leak: O2's Security Through Obscurity Can't Stop Google

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:05:00 EDT

Some O2 customers' private photos taken with their mobile phones are publicly accessible online.

Mac Cloner Psystar's Headquarters Listed For Sale

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:04:00 EDT

Internet real estate sites show that the building that houses Psystar is on the market for $4.6 million.

Intel To Fight European Antitrust Charges

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:52:00 EDT

The chip maker expects to refute charges that it is harming competition with the tactics it is using in its battle with rival AMD.

Sony Ericsson Sees 97% Drop In Q2 Profits

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:41:00 EDT

The handset manufacturer sees weak sales in the mid and high-end markets and plans to cut 2,000 jobs.

ActiveState Debunks Open Source Myths

nospam@cmp.com (Serdar Yegulalp) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:39:09 EDT

There's two major classes of open source myth: the "Open source is evil and strange" myth, and "Open source makes everything perfect forever" myth. It's easy to see how notions so far off-center are far from being universally true, but I'm heartened whenever someone debunks myths on both sides by taking a more moderate stance. Such is the case, intriguingly enough, with a paper entitled "Ten Myths About Running Open Source Software In Your Business," courtesy of ActiveState.

Businesses Fail To Harness Full Potential Of Online Communities

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:35:00 EDT

The Deloitte survey found that businesses use online communities to generate ideas, discover products, and discuss brands, but many fail to draw a critical mass.

5 Things AMD Needs To Do To Save Itself

nospam@cmp.com (Alexander Wolfe) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:20:30 EDT

Pity poor AMD. The scrappy semiconductor vendor has cut a particularly impressive product swath since 2003, when it launched its Opteron server processor and followed up with worthy dual- and quad-core architectures. But the financial rewards haven't been commensurate with AMD's technical prowess, and yesterday Dirk Meyer was named CEO. Here's what he needs to do to get AMD back on the beam.

The Problem With Power-Efficient Drives

nospam@cmp.com (George Crump) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:43:47 EDT

Power-efficient drives are drives that slow down and go into a standby or idle mode and do exactly what they say they will do -- they save power. The challenge with these drives is that many manufacturers are putting these drives into standard array shelves, typically with the same power supplies and the same fans. The array shelf still has to be designed to assume that the drives will spin up at full power, because at some point they probably will.

European Researchers Developing Touchy-Feely Robots

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:39:00 EDT

The Feelix Growing project is developing software, cameras, and sensors that help robots detect facial expressions, voice, proximity, and other parameters to determine a person's emotional state.

AT&T Bungles Free Wi-Fi Offering. Again And Again And Again

nospam@cmp.com (Eric Zeman) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:23:54 EDT

Several months ago, AT&T teased iPhone owners with on-again / off-again free access to AT&T Wi-Fi hotspots. In the end, the service was canned. This morning, a URL on AT&T's web site once again offered free Wi-Fi to iPhone owners -- and it was yanked, yet again. AT&T, what's the story?

Google Reinforces Its Russian Front With Ad Company Acquisition

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:18:00 EDT

The deal to buy ZAO Begun, a Russian contextual advertising service, marks Google's first publicly disclosed acquisition since last October.

iPhone 3G Shortage Could Last Into August

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:04:00 EDT

Saying Apple wasn't prepared for the demand, a Piper Jaffray analyst predicts iPhone 3G shortages for two to four weeks.

Reports Of A Google gPhone Surface Again

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:48:00 EDT

Google executives reportedly said the company was making its own branded mobile phone to compete with Apple's iPhone.

IBM Posts 16% Gain In Outsourcing Sales

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:40:00 EDT

Going forward, IBM's global services unit will face stiff competition from HP, which plans to acquire EDS, and fast-growing Indian outsourcers like Wipro.

Business Intelligence Is Not An Oxymoron

nospam@cmp.com (John Soat) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 11:47:04 EDT

Certainly not for this pizza CIO. BI tools let local managers stop e-mailing spreadsheets and concentrate on what they should be doing -- serving guests.

Want A New iPhone? Be Prepared To Wait

nospam@cmp.com (Eric Zeman) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 10:08:57 EDT

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster is number-crunching for the 3G iPhone again. His latest prognosis? The current supply shortage is going to last well into August. Aren't you kicking yourself for not getting in line last weekend?

Open-Source Advocates Spread Anti-iPhone FUD

nospam@cmp.com (Mitch Wagner) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 03:04:18 EDT

The Free Software Foundation thinks you shouldn't buy the iPhone if you value freedom. They make some valid criticisms of the pocket-sized wonder. But they go too far in trying to make a consumer choice into a political decision. I value free software, but I like my iPhone 3G quite a bit, too, and I don't have to choose between them.

Cyn.in V2 Offers Solid Features And An On-Site Appliance Option

nospam@cmp.com (Peter Hagopian) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 01:40:35 EDT

Cynapse has just released version 2 of its open source cyn.in enterprise collaboration and knowledge management platform, including multiple new features and enhancements. But beyond the feature set is an even more interesting twist -- you can chose to download and run it on your own server, have Cynapse run it for you in a fully hosted software as a service model, or buy it as an all-in-one server appliance.

Symbian And Android To Team For Mobile OS Powerhouse?

nospam@cmp.com (Justin Montgomery) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:48:13 EDT

Since Nokia recently acquired 100% ownership of Symbian and announced plans to turn it over to a new Symbian Foundation as part of a move to create an open source operating system for handsets, there's been speculation as to what the next move will be. The OS will be offered free to foundation members, probably sometime in the first half of 2009, but should it be a direct competitor to Android or should it join forces?

Sprint And TechWeb: Up In Smoke

nospam@cmp.com (Fritz Nelson) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 23:19:58 EDT

Shooting video sounds so glamorous. Just saying you're on your way home from shooting a documentary feels a little Hollywood, especially if you throw on a pair of shades inside Dulles airport and your destination is actually LAX. Getting out the camera for security screening, taking the upgrade earned from untold miles in the air, putting on the Bose headphones over the baseball cap and tossing the flip flops under the seat; noticing halfway through the flight you're sitting next to Cheech Marin, watching him order the ice cream sundae while his svelte, attractive companion gets the cheese plate. And I'm thinking about seeing if he's carrying a little something from the old days just for fun.

Here�s the truth: It might just be the most fun I�ve ever had working, but it�s not all glamour.

SharePoint Infrastructure Updates Aim To Improve Search

nospam@cmp.com (Peter Hagopian) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 20:29:29 EDT

Microsoft this week announced the release of a number of search-centric enhancements for SharePoint, as well as enhancements and bug fixes for content deployment. These fixes, along with some patches for MS Office Project 2007 and MS Office Project Server 2007, are being collectively packaged together as the Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007 Infrastructure Update.

Google Sued For Domain Parking (Again)

nospam@cmp.com (Thomas Claburn) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 19:54:06 EDT

Google has been sued for the second time in less than a week for selling low-quality ads on parked domains.

Another Database Startup Defies Conventional Wisdom

nospam@cmp.com (John Foley) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 19:25:13 EDT

As a former database reporter, I take notice when a startup comes out with a new database platform. The 30-year-old database market is dominated by software behemoths like Oracle, IBM, and Microsoft with entrenched customer bases. Is there room for another player? TrackVia, which just closed Series A funding, believes so.

Twitter Buys Summize Search Engine

nospam@cmp.com (Roger Smith) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 19:14:29 EDT

Twitter's business plan may actually start bringing in some revenue with the news that Twitter has acquired the leading Twitter search engine Summize for an undisclosed sum.

In The Cloud, Where Do Borders Fall?

nospam@cmp.com (Richard Martin) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 18:35:20 EDT

I just read that the U.S. State Department now has an embassy in Second Life. That�s an inflection point if I ever saw one.

Google Gmail And Calendar Will Soon Run Offline

nospam@cmp.com (Thomas Claburn) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:15:39 EDT

Within six weeks, Google Gmail and Google Calendar will be Google Gears-enabled, meaning that they'll run offline.

Nokia Plans Touch Device For This Year, Sells 1.34 Million Phones Per Day During 2Q

nospam@cmp.com (Eric Zeman) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:46:53 EDT

Nokia announced its second quarter financial results today. Some interesting things came to light with the reports. First, the head of Nokia's mobile devices unit said the company will be bringing a touch screen device to the market later this year. Second, Nokia's 1.34 million-per-day handset sales put another device's sales into perspective.