Hospital Implements High-Tech Emergency Response System

InformationWeek Daily - Thursday, June 26, 2008

Bill Gates Revealed: A Few Things You Didn't Know I've had occasion to chat with Bill Gates a number of times over the years, and there's often a point when something unexpected happens. He's been brutally honest, occasionally evasive, and surreptitiously a nice guy. As Gates gets ready to ride off into the software sunset, here are a few anecdotes that stand out. Bill Gates is retiring five years earlier than planned. It's an obscure fact, but true. Back in August of 2003, in a luncheon speech at the Detroit Economic Club, Gates said he had "a little more than 10 years" left in his software "career." The math is simple -- that would be 2013. A mere three years after that speech, however, Gates surprised the business world with his announcement of a 2008 retirement, five years earlier than indicated. New York Times reporter John Markoff caught this discrepancy. It was the first question out of Markoff's mouth at Gates' retirement news conference, but Gates said he didn't recall his earlier statement, and the subject was dropped. See my blog,"Bill Gates Waves Goodbye Earlier Than Planned," for all the details. Bill Gates and Scott McNealy weren't really archenemies. In January of 1996, I was on Sun's campus for a day of interviews. This was at the height of the Sun v. Microsoft wars, and speculation was that Sun was negotiating to acquire Apple. McNealy, however, was relaxed and eating frozen yogurt during our interview. His first son, Maverick, had been born a few months earlier, and McNealy excitedly went to a corner of his office to show me something. It was a hand-written note from Bill Gates congratulating him the new arrival. Bill Gates dodged only one question. In 2003, IT departments were spending hours patching buggy Windows PCs. One CIO I know crunched the numbers and said he was going to bill Microsoft for the work put in by his staff. So I asked Gates whether other business customers were making their own demands for reimbursement. "Is this something you're talking to business customers about -- somehow taking some of the financial responsibility for the work they're having to do?" After a very long pause, Gates answered: "We're very focused on doing our best to avoid these problems. That's our focus." It's the only time he completely sidestepped a question during one of our interviews. Read the rest of my blog post to find out about the calculator in Bill Gates' head, why he rated his own software so low, and when he turned into a two-fisted drinker. And tell me your own Bill Gates anecdote in the comments section. John Foley [email protected] www.informationweek.com
"Just because your voice reaches halfway around the world doesn't mean you are wiser than when it reached only to the end of the bar." -- Edward R. Murrow
Hospital Implements High-Tech Emergency Response System Location-based mapping system helps public safety officials, hospitals, and emergency responders more quickly and efficiently get aid to people in trouble. Related Stories: Time For Businesses To Get Serious About Location Technology GPS Isn't The Only Tool For Location Data-Sharing Partners Square Off With Bioterrorism Best Bluetooth Headsets -- Updated On July 1, California and Washington join other states in outlawing talking on the phone while driving -- unless you use a hands-free solution. Bluetooth headsets are transforming themselves from a geeky convenience to a safety necessity so we've updated this popular slideshow. VMware Finds Partner To Push Virtualization In China Inspur Servers, the leading Chinese server maker, will sell, distribute, and support VMware's Infrastructure suite. Progress Software To Buy Iona Technologies Iona will become a wholly owned subsidiary, making it likely that its Artix Web integration and Fuse SOA product lines will continue. Amazon.com Acquires Fabric.com The move is expected to expand Amazon's offerings in the growing craft and hobby segment. Virgin Mobile Reportedly Ready To Buy Helio The $50 million deal would bring Helio users under the Virgin Mobile brand. Hospital Implements High-Tech Emergency Response System Location-based mapping system helps public safety officials, hospitals, and emergency responders more quickly and efficiently get aid to people in trouble. AMD Ships Teraflops Line Of Graphics Cards AMD's new line of graphics cards is capable of a trillion calculations per second, double the computing power of the company's previous generation of high-end cards. Panasonic Unveils Rugged Ultra-Mobile PC The CF-U1, the first ultra-mobile PC in the Toughbook product line, is 7 inches wide, 6 inches deep, and 2 inches high. Motorola Introduces Two TouchScreen Smartphones The latest in the company's Ming line feature built-in GPS, a Linux operating system, and Bluetooth capabilities. Mac Office 2008 Update Includes More Than A Dozen Fixes Fixes included in the update cover all major components of the suite, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Entourage. Market For Local Online Video Ads Will Reach $1.5 Billion By 2021 Small to medium-sized businesses will spend 11.6% of their online budgets on video ads by 2012, The Kelsey Group estimates. Checkpoint Acquires Successful RFID Startup OATSystems Despite high-profile deals with Airbus and Kimberly-Clark, OATSystems decides to no longer fly solo in the shaky market for RFID technologies. IBM Opens Cloud Computing Centers In China, South Africa The centers will be used to deliver applications and other IT services to customers over the Internet. 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.	VMware Finds Partner To Push Virtualization In China Progress Software To Buy Iona Technologies Amazon.com Acquires Fabric.com Virgin Mobile Reportedly Ready To Buy Helio Hospital Implements High-Tech Emergency Response System 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. Escaping From Locked-In Clouds The first real controversy at the Structure08 cloud computing conference erupted during a panel called "Working the Cloud: NetGen Infrastructure for New Enterpreneurs." Not surprisingly, it involved Google. Getting Started With: Drupal The popular, powerful Drupal may seem a bit intimidating for the uninitiated, but for those looking to start out, here are some recommended resources to start learning the ropes. Firefox 3 Video Tour: The Awesome AwesomeBar We're kicking off a series of videos showing off the top features of Firefox 3. This time, we're taking a peek at the AwesomeBar, an updated version of the good old browser location bar, designed to make it easier for you to return to your favorite Web pages again and again. The Awesome Bar is controversial -- many people love it (including me). But others hate it, and for those people, we've got tips for how to disable the AwesomeBar. With EcoSearch, It IS Easy Being Green Here's an inconvenient truth: being green can be a pain in the neck. So when I heard of a new search tool that helps the environment without inflicting the least bit of discomfort upon users, I checked it out at once. Will All Content Move To The Cloud? Opening Structure08, the cloud computing conference in San Francisco, Jonathan Yarmis of AMR Research coined an interesting phrase: Everything As A Service. 3 Ways That Storage Virtualization Can Save You Money Storage virtualization is often billed as what I call a "Time To" product, meaning that it reduces the time it takes IT to respond to demands on the business. Virtualization shortens the amount of time that it takes to respond to a provisioning request, allowing for more rapid deployment of storage assets. IT departments also should consider storage virtualization if they need to flatten or shrink their budget. The Ethical Case For Open Device Drivers The recent announcement by Linux kernel developers that open source hardware drivers are the way to go got me thinking. You can make a business case for open source device drivers (you'll sell more hardware) or you can make an ethical case (it's the right thing to do). I believe in both, but for me the second view takes precedence over the first. Microsoft Hiring Mac Programmers, Enticements Include 'Kick-Butt Margarita Machine' Microsoft is reaching out to programmers with Macintosh skills in an effort to beef up its Mac Business Unit to meet rising demand for Apple-related products. Parrothead experience preferred but not essential. McCain's Lack Of Computer Skills Not Campaign Obstacle Sen. John McCain's computer aptitude, or lack thereof, became a hot topic of discussion at the Personal Democracy Forum in New York City this week. The forum tackled technology's role in politics and policy. So, when news surfaced that McCain doesn't know how to use a computer, both technophiles and politicos in attendance were intrigued. Some were also involved. Virgin Mobile USA In Talks To Buy Troubled Helio Speculation about Helio's future has been all over the place the last month or so, with reports surfacing that it was a potential acquisition target. Turns out that speculation wasn't far off. Sources indicate that Virgin Mobile USA, another troubled MVNO, may be buying out SK Telecom's stake in Helio. Can pairing two troubled MVNOs make for one stronger one? Battery Life Issues Delaying Launch Of BlackBerry Bold Last month Research In Motion announced the new Bold smartphone with much fanfare. The device was supposed to be available on AT&T's network starting in July. It looks like that ain't gonna happen. AT&T has yet to certify the device, which is suffering from battery life problems, as well as overheating. Um, oops. 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: T-Mobile seeking Program Manager 3 in Snoqualmie, WA Trilogy Leasing Co, LLC seeking General Manager in Cranbury, NJ Columbia Law School seeking Systems Analyst E-Mail Network Administrator in New York, NY Prime Objective seeking Support Analyst in Somerset, NJ Agilent Technologies seeking Business Manager in Bangalore, IN For more great jobs, career-related news, features and services, please visit our Career Center. 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