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CIO Effectiveness: Here's A Hint -- Know Your Manager
Now for another sneak peek at a small slice of our forthcoming CIO Effectiveness Survey 2007: Almost everyone agrees the CIO should report to the CEO. Unfortunately, the reality is quite different.
Last CIO Standing: Joke Contest
As I've said several times, I'm committed to passing along every CIO joke -- both by and about CIOs -- that I hear. Unfortunately, I don't have a joke this time. But I do have a little bit of insight that concerns a certain top technology executive's sense of humor -- or lack thereof.
What Goodies Do You Offer To Techies?
During the dot-com boom, employers rolled out the red carpet and waved fat checks at tech talent. Today's carrots aren't 20% raises and signing bonuses, but rather 20%-off coupons on car rentals. But could job-perk programs be making a comeback?
YouTube Comes Of Age In Republican Debate
Finally, an important and intellectual-property-legal application for the video clips from YouTube. Some 30 short videos submitted by the public were used as the questions in Wednesday evening's CNN debate among the Republican presidential candidates. Sure, this isn't the first debate, YouTube or otherwise, but last night the gloves really came off.
Telecommuting: A Cause Celebre For CIOs?
It's a much-admired perk, according to a new survey. But how favorably do CIOs look on stay-at-home workers -- both those who toil in IT, and the rest of the company?
Top 5 Things Microsoft Must Fix In Windows Vista In 2008
With Vista's first service pack due for wide release early next year, Microsoft is intent on addressing the many things which need to be fixed in its still-young operating system. The question is, are they going to fix the right things? I think not, since the problems this time 'round aren't bugs so much as performance. Read on for my list of five must-have Vista corrections.
Zune Vs. iPod: Which Music Player Do You Want For Xmas?
There's lots of talk about Microsoft's slimmed-down, second-generation Zune. I'm supposed to get my review unit soon, and I'm anxious to take a look. I'm sure it's much improved over the 1.0 design, which had all the style of a 1960 Dodge Polara. However, if you ask people which music player they want for the holidays, and you frame the question the way I did in the headline, the answer is pretty obvious.
University To Make Students Carry GPS Mobile Phones
For those of you who thought I was jumping the gun with location and GPS, check this out: Montclair State University will require its students to buy and carry a special cell phone equipped with GPS. Is this a sign of things to come?
Is Verizon's Announcement Really The End Of Closed Wireless Networks?
Just how open will Verizon Wireless' open network be next year? Will Verizon offer true open network access? Or will the carrier use tiered pricing and other tactics to try to keep unapproved applications and devices off its network?
Feeling Grumpy About Your Job?
Who do you think likes his or her job better, you or your boss? A few recent surveys hint that IT worker-bees are happier with their jobs than the queen-bee is with hers. But is the company king-pin the unhappiest of all?
Now That Verizon Wireless Is Opening Its Network, What's Next?
It looks like Google is about to get everything it wants. The king of closed wireless networks, Verizon Wireless, this morning said it will open its networks to "wireless devices, software and applications not offered by the carrier." Now what's next?
Credit For Amazon's Ugly Kindle Should Go To E-Ink Maker
Buried amid all the bows Jeff Bezos is taking for Amazon's Kindle is some note of where the real credit for the electronic-book reader should go. That would be to E Ink Corp. of Cambridge, Mass., which developed the technology behind both Kindle and its far more elegant looking cousin, the Sony Reader.
Do You Know Who Your Next CIO Will Be?
Succession planning is an important part of management strategy. Unfortunately, it's a practice more breached than honored -- especially when it comes to CIOs.
British iPhone Users Complain Of Serious Reception Problems
British iPhone buyers are in an online uproar over reception problems they're experiencing on the network of O2, Apple's exclusive service provider in England. (No bars for iPhone Brits?)
Mobile Tech, From Drug Tests To Train Tracks
A pro cycling team gave riders BlackBerrys so it can summon them anytime for unannounced drug tests. Now, testing employees for elevated testosterone on three hours notice might not be a core competency for your company. But it gets to a challenge: do you have a problem that mobile technology lets you look at in a new way?
The Promise Of Mobile GPS And Location
If 2007 was the year of smartphones, then 2008 promises to be the year of mobile location. Consumers and business users want GPS and other location services on their smartphones. But what does 2008 really hold in store?
Tomorrow's CIO: A Woman
Women possess many of the attributes necessary for the emerging role of the CIO, such as skills in communication, collaboration, and negotiation, says Susan Mersereau, senior VP and CIO at Weyerhaeuser Co.: "I think they're wired to move into this career."
Why Does Jaron Lanier Hate Google?
Spurred into opining by the television writers strike, virtual-reality guru Jaron Lanier has reversed his long-standing "piracy is good" position. Writing on the Op-Ed page of The New York Times, he's lamenting the fact that content creators aren't reaping their fair share of the Web's riches, and that this comes at the expense
SAP Hopes To See TomorrowNow Become YesterdayThen
So the other shoe drops. Four months after admitting one of its subsidiaries downloaded Oracle documents it didn't have legal rights to, SAP is doing everything it can to yank out and destroy that thorn in it's paw known as TomorrowNow.
Share The Love: IT Staff Feel Appreciated
Contrary to stereotyped perceptions (and Saturday Night Live skits), IT staff members aren't necessarily targets of verbal abuse, they do get positive feedback from users, and they aren't constantly surfing the Web looking for new jobs. As for CIOs ... insufficient data.
Faster AMD Phenom Quad-Cores Coming In Early 2008
If your interest in AMD's first desktop quad-core processors was piqued by Monday's announcement of the Phenom X4 9500 and 9600, then you'll like what the scrappy semiconductor maker has up its sleeve for release early next year. Three new processors are on the way, most notably a 3.0-GHz Phenom due in the second quarter of 2008.
Tomorrow's CIO
In writing my feature story about "The Evolving CIO," I interviewed M.S. Krishnan, professor of business information technology at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan. Here are some notes from that conversation on how CIOs can step up to the next level: of their careers,
5 Reasons TV Writers Strike Won't Benefit Web
With the TV writers strike forcing dozens of sitcoms and dramas -- not to mention Letterman and Leno -- into reruns, there's talk that viewers will permanently abandon prime time even after the walkout is settled. At the same time, the writers strike is seen as a big opportunity for Web content creators to prove that their medium has really arrived. But has it?
Google's Wireless Bid Plan Means It's Phone Serious
The chatter that Google may indeed be planning to bid for wireless spectrum space gives additional impetus to the expectation that there will indeed be a bunch of Google phones on the market in 2008. Yes, I know Google itself will not manufacture a phone. However, as I explained in my recent article, Inside The Gphone, the search-engine giant's Android partners are already putting a cutting-edge handset toget
Do You Monitor Your Employees?
A new system from AT&T introduces the era of low-cost Big Brother surveillance. Is this something CIOs should be interested in -- or afraid of?
Five Reasons Why I Think Oracle Will Buy Salesforce.com
Marc Benioff says Salesforce.com is on target to hit $1 billion in revenue next year, but I don't think it will happen. I predict that before Salesforce.com hits that run rate as an independent, publicly traded company, Oracle will buy it.
AMD's Phenom Quad-Core Processors Available For Online Pre-Orders
The industry's most anxiously awaited quad-core processor has been curiously missing in action. Because it brings the scrappy chipmaker's hot new 10h architecture to the desktop, and because it's the scrappy chipmaker's first desktop quad, the chip was shaping up as something of an Intel killer when it was first discussed
Former Microsoft CIO "Has No Plans" To Resume Role
Ron Markezich, VP of managed solutions at Microsoft, and a former CIO at the company, said he isn't involved in the search for a new CIO.
Last CIO Standing, Joke #3
A CIO can, too, have a sense of humor. This joke's not about CIOs, but it's funny just the same.
Can IT Vendors Meet The Challenges Of Mobile 2.0?
I just returned from my panel, "The New Mobile IT Paradigm: Can IT Vendors Adapt?", at Mobile Internet World. It seems traditional IT vendors are still struggling with business mobility. Can they even hope to compete once Web 2.0 and Enterprise 2.0 show on smartphones?
Is There Any Lead Paint In That Code?
Maybe outsourced IT work and offshore manufacturing are as different as apples and lead-painted oranges. But does the rash of tainted product news from China make you more edgy about the quality of IT work that's done outside the U.S.?
Another CIO Departure
In an SEC filing, Orbitz, the online travel site, said its CIO is exiting the company. What's with the recent CIO shuffle?
Penryn's Got The Power For Wall Street Computing
A fascinating nugget hidden amid Intel's announcement of its 45-nm Penryn processors is just who really needs these powerful chips. Sure, PC gamers want the hot Core 2 Extreme QX9650. And enterprises everywhere more or less buy into the "better performance per watt" sell of the server-side Xeon Penryns. But the f
The End Of Offshore Outsourcing? I'm Asking.
Is the allure of work done overseas fading? Or is it as viable as ever? I can't reconcile conflicting reports.
Intel Pitches Performance Of Quad-Core 45-Nm Penryn
Intel has officially lifted the lid on its long-awaited 45-nm Penryn processors. The devices are significant not only because they push the envelope, but because they extend Moore's Law a bit longer through their use of the rare element Hafnium.
Morgan Stanley IT Exec Departs
Morgan Stanley IT veteran Guy Chiarello has left the brokerage firm. Chiarello's departure comes in the wake of Morgan Stanley's failure to make e-mail records available when required by the courts and financial-industry regulators -- and the embarrassing exposure of internal e-mail that did not reflect well on Chiarello and colleagues.
Why Is Gates Still Number One?
The tech rank-and-file rate Bill Gates as the most influential person in the history of IT. The question is -- why? And do CIOs see it differently?
The CIO Cycle
It's not a new model from Harley-Davidson. It's the reason why some CIOs are losing their jobs. And here's what you can do to get off that particular treadmill.
Apple's Leopard Is Better 'Linux' Than Linux
Who knew that Apple's latest version of Mac OS X was knitted together from enough open-source software to give Linux a run for its money?
When CIOs Crash And Burn
Stuart Scott's sudden, ignominious departure from Microsoft is just one way for CIOs to be shown the door. HR violations, lack of execution, poor judgment, failure to protect the company's vital information--a lot can go wrong, and when it does, there are consequences.
With iPhone Set For European Launch, British Unlockers Could Get An Apple Bricking
Ready for some iBricking in the U.K.? With apologies to the Sex Pistols--I realize I'm straining for an analogy here--that could be the tune soon after the Friday evening launch of the iPhone in England by mobile-service provider O2.
Sprint's Divorce From Clearwire Can't Be Good For WiMax
Sprint Nextel says it remains "fully committed" to WiMax even though it has pulled the rug out from under the planned nationwide network that's central to its WiMax strategy. Who's in charge anyway?
Is The Title CIO Still Viable -- Or Something Else?
"CIO is somewhat of a legacy term," says Ken Harris, senior VP and CIO of Shaklee Corp. "But that doesn't mean that the value that the CIO brings goes away."
Open Handset Alliance: Google Gets Serious About Mobile
You really have to admire Andy Rubin, Director of Mobile Platforms at Google. He's worked at Apple then General Magic then WebTV and most recently founded Danger.
What's In A Name: Does CIO Still Resonate?
Companies continue to see value in the title of CIO, at least to judge from a news announcement earlier this week.
Google's Android Frenzy Hides Mobile's Dirty Little Secret
There's one important point that's been lost amid all the chatter surrounding Google's non-announcement the other day of its vaporous GPhone, and its actual disclosure that it'll soon be releasing a phone-software development platform. It's this: mobile apps aren't the issue. It's the (slow) networks, stupid.
The H-1B Visas That Could Save Lives
Regardless of whether you think the cap on H-1B visas should be raised or not, there are some very specific -- and scarce -- types of talent and brainpower that could help save lives but are possibly being shut out of coming into the United States.
Microsoft (Almost) Mum On CIO Departure
Stuart Scott was let go for "violation of company policies;" two executives tapped to assume his responsibilities in the interim.
What Does Google's Android Mean For IT?
Yesterday my colleague, Eric Zeman, chimed in with his thoughts about Google's Android announcement and what it will mean for enterprise IT. In a move to expand the discussion, I sat down earlier today with Maribel Lopez, Vice President and Principal Analyst, Forrester Research, to talk about the impact of Google's mobile initiati
Microsoft's CIO Out
Stuart Scott, Microsoft's most recent CIO, has been let go from the company, according to a report.
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The State of Cloud Computing - Fall 2020
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2021 Top Enterprise IT TrendsWe've identified the key trends that are poised to impact the IT landscape in 2021. Find out why they're important and how they will affect you.
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