The InformationWeek February 2008 Archive
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Sourcefire's Earnings Not So Hot. CEO Jackson Ousted.

Network security provider Sourcefire announced its earnings yesterday. The less-than-spectacular results show a company fighting numerous headwinds. So can it set its sail straight?

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Stomping On Your Carbon Footprint

The "greening" of IT is very à la mode right now, especially in storage. But this umbrella term suffers from overuse, and near as I can tell, is a euphemism for using less electricity. It's also a "feature" that enables some vendors to bump up their prices. So what exactly is the fuss again?

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Top 6 Words And Phrases To Use In Internet Discussions To Prove You Are A Jerk

Are you a jerk and do you want people to know it? In real life, it's easy to prove you are a jerk: You can talk loudly during movies, cut in line at Starbucks, or tell new mothers their babies are ugly. But on the Internet, it's harder to prove you're a jerk.

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Sprint "Simply Everything" Changes Wireless Landscape

$100 a month for all your mobile voice, data, and messaging needs? Heck yeah! But this is more than a good deal, it's a step toward a new way of using wireless - for your company and your customers.

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Did Poor Data Governance Spark the Subprime Crisis?

The subprime lending crisis offer fresh evidence that we're in the bear-skins-and-stone-knives era of understanding risk and making good decisions based on data. That's one of the key points I heard yesterday at an IBM Data Governance Council meeting in New York... Current technologies are limited by a lack of best practices and standards and by the sheer scale and complexity of enterprises and financial markets...

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Are Online Ads Losing Value?

For an industry that saw its revenue rise 25% last year to a record high, the online advertising business is in a bit of a funk. Mostly that's because of Google, which has seen its dominance in Internet ads erode, slightly, and watched its share price slide by 38% in the last four months.

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VMware Welcomes Third-Party Security Applications

PCPro, The Register

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Taking Google Sites For A Spin

After seeing the news this morning about the launch of Google Sites, I decided to take the new tools for a spin. I signed up, bought myself a domain name, and went to work at customizing it and setting up users. Just how easy is it?

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Yahoo Warns of Repercussions of Microsoft Bid, Also Gets Sued

San Jose Business Journal, CNET News, InformationWeek

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Suddenly SaaS Is A CIO's Best Friend

As recession looms, fingers are pointing to software as a service as a viable, fiscally responsible option for upgrading application portfolios. Is recession-driven SaaS another notable turning point for technology?

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Stonesoft Guards Against External and IntraHost Threats

I spoke with Stonesoft on Wednesday regarding the company's new security solutions for VMware. Intrahost protection, anyone?

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Don't Discount The Threat Of Web 2.0 Terror

We've recently seen silly articles hyping the threat of terrorists using virtual worlds and other Web 2.0 sites for recruitment, planning, and training. And we've seen equally silly articles ridiculing the idea. The truth is that Web 2.0 tools are great for terrorism, for the same reasons they're great for legitimate projects. That doesn't mean we should shut down Facebook and Second Life to protect ourselves from instant, horrible death. But we do need to rationally evaluate possible threats.

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Congress Tries To Drink Big Oil's Milkshake

If Daniel Plainview weren't fictional, he'd be howling bloody hell. Congress on Wednesday passed a bill that would yank $17.65 billion in tax breaks to oil companies and reallocate the savings to fund tax incentives for wind, solar, and other renewable energy technologies.

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Google Retools JotSpot, Unveils Google Sites

InfoWorld, The Wall Street Journal

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EU to Microsoft: You're Fined!

The New York Times, Wired

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Firefox, Or Pigfoot?

One index of success for an open source project is how many other projects are derived from it -- or how many people have created alternate builds of the same project.  Firefox's success has spawned a whole slew of community-compiled editions of the program, and this week I've been living with one of them, code-named "Pigfoot."

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Sprint Bests Other Unlimited Plans With 'Simply Everything'

The wireless industry has been waiting for a response from Sprint to all the unlimited plans launched by its competitors last week. Well, now we have it. Today, Sprint announced what is essentially an "unlimited everything" plan for $99. And when they say everything, they mean everything. How will Verizon Wireless, AT&T;, and T-Mobile respond to this?

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Apple COO: iPhone 'Not Married' To AT&T;, Will Always Be Hacked

Speaking at a Goldman Sachs investor's conference in Las Vegas yesterday, Apple COO Tim Cook said that, "Apple is not married to the single, exclusive-carrier model." Whoa. So is Apple's exclusive contract with AT&T; shorter than initial projections? And if so, when might other carriers be able to sell the iPhone?

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Nortel's Downward Spiral Continues

Nortel's fourth quarter revenue brought unwelcome news. In fact, the numbers were so bad that more than 2,000 employees will need to find new employers ASAP, as the vendor continues to struggle in the highly competitive network equipment market.

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Join Us For GridTalk Friday On The Future Of Motorati Island

Join us Friday to look at one of the most active communities in Second Life: Motorati Island. The sponsors, headed by Pontiac, recently turned the island over to the United Spinal Association. Renamed Motorability, it's headed up by Patty Streeter, who will be our guest for GridTalk noon SLT.

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Those Other Ruby Web Frameworks

The Pragmatic Programmer has long advocated that it's good practice to learn at least one new programming language every year. If you're a web developer, it's at least as important to pick up a new framework from time to time.

Most Ruby developers tasked with building web applications are clearly working in Rails at this point. However, there are some great alternative frameworks out there that also deserve a look. Do yourself a favor and dig in; learning a different framework can change the way you think about the box you're working in.

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Wikis in War

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Fireproof Storage? I Don't Get It

Over the past couple of years ioSafe, Sentry, and Schwab have introduced a new generation of backup targets, fireproof storage. A Frankenstein like crossbreeding of USB hard drive or NAS and fireproof safe, they can protect your backups against fire, flood (as they're waterproof, too) and gloom of night. Last Interop our own Steve Hill drove out to the desert with the friendly folks from ioSafe, poured a flammable liquid on one of there NAS boxes and had himself a nice little computer barbecue so they could demonstrate that the data inside laughs at fire. Cool I thought but why?

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EMC Boosts Mozy Pro Prices Up To 300%

In an e-mail sent to MozyPro resellers this week, EMC announced new pricing for online backup of servers via its MozyPro division effective March 1. Users that purchase plans under the current pricing will be grandfathered in, so if you were thinking that MozyPro was the right answer for your servers, sign up now. Of course, you also may want to consider another provider, like Intronis Technologies' eSureIT or IBackup Professional, now that MozyPro is in their price range.

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Dell Preps Hosted Support Services

InformationWeek

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Where To Start With ILM

Last week I hosted an ILM (Information Life-cycle Management) video Web cast. One of the questions that came up was "Where do I start with ILM without much risk?" It's a good question.

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Will Office Open XML Slam The Door On Accessibility?

Microsoft's bid to turn its Office Open XML (OOXML) format into an ISO standard is a bad idea for any number of reasons. One of those reasons, however, strikes me as especially troubling: If OOXML wins ISO approval, it could make life much harder for millions of disabled people who rely upon accessibility-enhancing tools and technologies.

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In Silicon Valley, A Way Forward For Muni Wireless

This week's news that Covad Communications has stepped in as the primary network provider on the stalled Silicon Valley Wireless project may allow us, in Wall Street parlance, to "call the bottom" on the ailing business of providing widespread, low-cost municipal wireless access.

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VMware Moves To Protect Applications Living On The Hypervisor

On the heels of a file sharing flaw uncovered earlier this week by a security firm, and the announcement of a number of security patches, virtualization leader VMware says it plans to release an API for third-party security applications.

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Regulators OK Oracle-BEA Merger

Bloomberg

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Why You Should Love Information Mess

David Weinberger, author of "Everything is Miscellaneous," believes we need to unlearn what we think that we know about the best ways to organize information... He looks at how many projects require a much greater degree of control as they increase in size, but contrasts that with the Web, which has growth only because of the lack of control. Control doesn't scale; we just thought that it did...

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From 'Energized' To Not So Interested

The little do-si-do between Congress and the White House over missing e-mails is apparently over. Cynics might predict the next steps will be a digging in of heels, followed quickly by threats to launch (and bungle) an investigation, or worse, appoint a special prosecutor.

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Windows Small Business Server 2008: Cougar Sires Server Family

Microsoft unveils the new version of Windows Small Business Server as linchpin of a new solution family with integrated products for business with up to 50 or 250 users.

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Hey Smaller Businesses, Why Not Try Some Free Love?

Everyone, it seems, is getting into the "free" act. Apparently, it's a real trend -- and not just among the big guys. Smaller businesses can get a piece of the "free" action, too.

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Talk To Me, Openly

It's a cliche to say that open source breaks down barriers, but every day I learn about a new way that's happening. Here's one barrier that open source can help to bring down, incrementally: the language barrier.

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Network Solutions Sued For Domain-Name Policy

Associated Press, VNUnet.com

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Apple To Host iPhone SDK Launch March 6

This morning Apple started sending out invitations to an event to be held Thursday, March 6. The topic? The long-awaited iPhone SDK. The invitation read: "Please join us to learn about the iPhone software road map, including the iPhone SDK and some exciting new enterprise features." Finally!

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Microsoft-Yahoo Merger Perfectly Timed For A Recession

Although I still have a lot of doubt that Microsoft and Yahoo will ever consummate a marriage, Microsoft continues to pursue the deal with a lot of enthusiasm. I don't know how loudly I can say this, but Microsoft: It's a trap! There's a reason why some major Yahoo shareholders are suing to make this deal go through, pronto. They think you're crazy and they want to get the money before you sober up.

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Google Offers Provisioning Toolkit For Enterprises

So you're taking the leap and deploying Google Apps across your enterprise. Rather than add users one by one, Google is giving IT admins a new way to create user accounts: the Apache 2.0 licensed Open Source Google Apps Provisioning Toolkit.

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HP Ships Disk Array Especially for Midsize Businesses

Computerworld

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Vignette Gears Up For A Better Web Experience

I caught up with Vignette as details were emerging about its updated Web content management tools. This week, we learned a little more about the Web Experience Platform, the company's new and improved approach at managing your content.

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Media Advice For Entrepreneurs And Others

How to get your company noticed -- advice from a journalist, a professor, an analyst, and a flack.

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Google Lends Its Voice To Opera, Yahoo Sings The Blues

The mobile search wars continue, and Google just won an important tactical victory over rival Yahoo. Opera, maker of mobile Web browsers, has switched its default search from Yahoo to Google.

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Chronicle Of A Startup: The Kernel Of An Idea

I have an idea for a new venture that seems promising to me. Is it? I'm on my way to Silicon Valley to find out.

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SharePoint Licensing Costs 'Highest in Class'

The CMS Watch Web CMS Report, calls out MOSS 2007 as having "perhaps the highest fee structure in its class," - by which we mean among mid-market and departmental solutions - particularly when used as a Web CMS for a public site. Seems others agree...

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Starbucks Takes Coffee Break, Makes Customer Satisfaction Gaffe

Starbucks can send me an e-mail when they reload my card -- yeah, I know I'm a sap for giving them an interest-free loan, but it's convenient -- and they can pepper me with communications when they've got a sale to promote. So how come they can't bother to clue me in when they're planning to shut their doors for three hours? Not very Web 1.0 of them, huh?

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Open ESB Update

Recently, I spoke with Kevin Schmidt of Sun Microsystems regarding Open ESB, a community-driven open-source ESB used by Sun and other companies. Sun contributed Open ESB to the community under the CDDL license years ago, and uses it as the basis for its JBI reference implementation, as well as its Java Composite Application Platform Suite of applications (JCAPS or Java CAPS).

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Microsoft loves Java

Microsoft's recent acquisition activity brings to it a lot of Java-based software, expertise, as well as a large Java-focused customer base.

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An Ounce Of Virtual Prevention

Security researchers found/punched a new hole in one of VMware's products this week, and from some quarters, it's being written about as if virtual machinery had never been a target for malicious code before. Those in the data center know differently.

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Lockheed Martin puts Enterprise 2.0 into Action

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Microsoft's Windows Live Goes on the Blink

BetaNews

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Technology And The Big Foot Problem

Michael Specter's article "Big Foot," in the current issue of The New Yorker, examines some common assumptions about carbon emissions and how technology is going to have to step on the gas to tackle the climate change problem. It's worth a close read.

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Newsflash: Reflex Is Not Dead

A death notice was posted to one of my blogs last week. I'm guessing it was someone with a personal grudge. Turns out Reflex Security is alive and well.

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Lenovo Unveils Ultrathin Laptops

Computerworld

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Adobe Aims for the Next Generation of Apps

Some day we will stop talking about "RIAs" (Rich Internet Applications) and Web 2.0 apps and Web apps; they will all just be apps. The same goes for "desktop applications." They will just be apps too. In fact, I wish we had a simple name for all these flavors of apps right now. Thankfully, I can see the horizon of that "some day."...

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iPhone 1.1.4 Firmware Available

This afternoon, Apple made the 1.1.4 firmware update for the iPhone available for download. The update is a 162-MB file. So far, no known new features have been spotted with the upgrade, but it is believed to support the as-yet-to-be-released SDK. Stay tuned for more details.

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Surprise, Surprise. Federal Agencies Not Protecting The Information They Collect About You

There are many policies, mandates, and laws that govern personally identifiable and financial information for federal agencies. So just how many federal agencies are living up to their responsibilities?

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If We're Headed Into A Recession, What Will Happen To IT?

IT budgets and tech staffs were clobbered during the recession of the early 2000s. But how would they survive this time around? Hasn't most of the "fat" already been slashed, or has much of it returned?

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Cell Phone Device Detects Deleted Data

Cell phone users whose phones use SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) strips need to know that a new device that reads those strips can also retrieve deleted text messages. It's called, appropriately enough, Cell Phone Spy.

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Hockey Fans Turn To Web To Follow NHL Trade Deadline

Hockey fans might be getting less work done today than usual, thanks to a combination of Tuesday's NHL trade deadline and the Web.

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The New Economy of Free (What It Will Cost You)

We all know -- or had at least one grandparent tell us -- you don't get something for nothing. But technological advances and new distribution models mean that you can get some stuff for not that much. Oh, and you might want to think about how you can apply that concept to generating revenue for your smaller business.

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VMware Signs Virtualization Deals With Four Server Giants

Channel Register

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The Ups and Downs of Software Spending: Report

Reuters

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Tech Turf Gives Windows Mobile Users Quick Access To Google Services

This new application from The Tech Turf provides Windows Mobile smartphones with an iPhone-like dashboard that can quickly access a wide range of Google services. The app is called Google2Go! (not to be confused with Yahoo's Go for Mobile) and speeds up Web searches, as well as provides visual shortcuts to other sites such as Amazon.

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Will Linux Breathe Adobe's AIR?

You've probably heard by now about Adobe's AIR, a way to create "rich Internet applications" on the desktop.  It's only for Windows and Mac at this point, but Adobe's plan is to eventually release it for Linux as well.

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Fading Hope for Wikis

If you ever spend time as an administrator or even an editor on Wikipedia, you find that your initial enthusiasm for the concept wanes pretty quickly. I thought Wikipedia was a forum for interested people to present their knowledge in an open and influence-free environment, to be vetted by like-minded, optimistic people. As it turns out, it became a dumping ground for every crackpot, agenda, vendetta and misinformation-broker on the planet...

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Gmail Chat Goes Invisible. :-D

Instant messengers, rejoice! Google has updated Gmail Chat and Talk with the ability to go invisible. This was a much-needed feature of the IM client built into Gmail. Google stepped up and delivered.

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Facebook for Kids?

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Riverbed Eases WAN Transmission Requirements

Traffic flowing between remote locations can chew up bandwidth and raise a small and medium sized businesss telecommunications costs. WAN optimization tools have the potential to ease those burdens.

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Challenges From The Vendor View

Vendors see the world of technical challenges a bit differently -- and no surprise here: The items they cite often tend to play to the vendor's strengths or ongoing market initiatives. But here are how big thinkers at some storage vendors view the biggest engineering challenges ahead.

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ROBOTC: A Programming Environment for Robotics

Does robotics need or require a special-purpose development environment? Apparently the folks at Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Academy think so. Which is why they developed ROBOTC, a programming environment optimized for educational robots.

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Cisco's New Financing Plan Makes Unified Communications More Affordable

ChannelWeb

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Social Networking To Drive Small Business Into Global Markets

Forget the weak dollar. Social networking designed to overcome language and other "soft" export barriers is helping to give smaller companies new advantages in international markets.

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McAfee on What it Takes to be Successful with Enterprise 2.0

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The Politics Of IT

How heavy-handed can a new CIO be? Just because an IT organization is in need of change, that doesn't mean those changes can happen easily -- or at all.

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Virgin Atlantic's Biofueled Flight Plan Is Coco-Nuts

A Virgin Atlantic 747 topped off its fuel tank with the oil of 150,000 coconuts and flew from Heathrow to Amsterdam Sunday. The odor of pina coladas hanging over the economy cabin should have been a giveaway -- this idea is a stinker.

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Dell Updates AMD-Based Optiplex PC

InformationWeek

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Open Source Guide: Take A Bite Out Of Microsoft's Cash Cow

Is there life after Microsoft Office? Today, for the first time in many years, the answer is yes, thanks to OpenOffice.org. Here's a good first step to determine whether this outstanding open-source software suite can help your small business put Microsoft's favorite cash cow out to pasture, once and for all.

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EMC Updates RecoverPoint SAN CDP/Replication Engine

The new 3.0 version of its RecoverPoint CDP/Replication appliance extends the technology EMC acquired with Kashya in 2006. The version provides both local replication to a CDP volume and journal on the same Fibre Channel SAN as the primary storage and remote asynchronous replication via IP to another array at the same time. Unlike array-based replication options, the source and destination arrays need not be the same type, or even from the same vendor.

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Google Outlines The Secret To Its Success

Apparently, there's some level of mystery involved in Google's success. So much so that Google's chief economist Hal Varian put together a bunch of ideas on why Google continually succeeds. Varian has one answer. I have another.

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Dismal Prospects for Tech? Blame the Pols

As the field of presidential candidate gets smaller and smaller, the question among tech voters is who is their candidate. The answer, it seems is none of them.

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Microsoft Preps IE 8 For Beta

CNET News.com

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Windows Vista Childbirth Pack 1

I have become convinced that Windows service packs and childbirth have a lot in common. You approach the big day with nervous anticipation, and hope that everything will come out OK. That day sometimes involves a lot of pain, but a few years after each event people look back wistfully and think, "Gee, that wasn't so bad. I'm sure glad we did it." As the big day arrives for Vista Service Pack 1, be prepared for that short-term pain.

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Virtualization: Just Another Layer Of Software To Patch?

Researchers at Core Security have issued an advisory warning users of a significant security flaw in a number of VMware desktop apps that could allow attackers to gain complete access to the underlying operating system.

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Ubuntu: Linux's Obama (Sort Of)

What is it about Ubuntu that has generated such excitement about Linux?  To steal a word from Obama's playbook, "Change."

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Adobe Brings Web Apps to Desktop With AIR Software

The New York Times, Computerworld

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LinkedIn Launches Mobile Site

Today LinkedIn showed off a new beta WAP site that lets you perform some basic tasks related to your LinkedIn database of professional contacts. And when we say basic, we mean basic. You can't view your contacts' contact information, accept invitations, nor even update your own profile. LinkedIn Mobile has its work cut out for it if it intends to catch up to other social networking sites' mobile capabilities.

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India Outsources to US Tech Workers

The buzz in the local Indian trade magazines is about IBM recently grabbing a multi-year outsourcing deal from the Indian operations of Vodaphone, the global communications giant. Deals like these demonstrate that countries like India and China are more than a source of competition for US-based IT jobs, they offer a solid opportunity for those willing to brave the geographical and culture gap.

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Hacker's Poised To Beat Apple's Latest Version Of DRM (aka C.R.A.P.)

One of the hotter memes over the weekend had to do with a cease and desist letter that the ever-litigious Apple sent to the operators of the Hymn Project. For those looking to remove Apple's copy protection technology (officially "FairPlay," but I call it "C.R.A.P.") from iTunes Music Store (iTMS)-bought content, the Hymn Project has been the go-to site for utilities that have managed to stay one step ahead of Apple in what has been a cat and mouse game.

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Join Us For InformationWeek Live Tuesday With Clay Shirky

Our guest, New York University's Clay Shirky, will discuss his new book, Here Comes Everybody: The Power Of Organizing Without Organizations, which describes how social networks like MySpace and Digg are allowing new kinds of collaborative action.

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Microsoft, IBM Team Up on Embedded for POS

Microsoft and IBM are teaming up in the point-of-sale arena with Microsoft’s Windows Embedded for Point of Service (WEPOS) operating system pre-loaded on IBM point-of-sale, self-checkout and self-service kiosks. Windows Embedded for Point of Service is a point-of-service operating system platform based on Windows but optimized for the retail industry.

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Sun, MySQL Seal the Deal

It's a done deal. In what seems like record time for an acquisition of this magnitute -- under six weeks, but who's counting -- Sun and MySQL have sealed the deal and MySQL is now part of Sun Microsystems.

"This is the most important acquisition in Sun history, and the most important acquisition in the modern software industry," Schwartz said.

And he may be right.

 

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Symantec Protection Network -- Online Backup, How Innovative?

This week Symantec released the first services from its previously announced Symantec Protection Network (SPN) and, as Gomer Pyle would say, "Surprise, Surprise, Surprise," online backup. Symantec Online Backup is a middle of the road service for small businesses that should have some appeal, especially after Symantec takes the time to add a few features the competition already has. Symantec Online Storage for Backup Exec, on the other hand, breaks new ground providing online off-site backup capabilities to the legions of Windows shops running Backup Exec after they update to the new version 12.

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What To Do In A Recession

If the "R" word really is on the way, small and midsize companies can't just curl up and hope it goes away.

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Video: Is Microsoft Open Source's Friend?

Microsoft made its most significant move since the 1992 release of Windows 3.1 on Feb. 21, when it pledged to make "strategic changes in technology and business practices to expand interoperability." What does this mean in plain English? It's Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's corporate-speak way of telling the open-source community that he can't beat 'em, so he plans to try to outflank them.

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Report: No iPhone SDK In February

According to reports, the software developer kit for the iPhone is going to be delayed by one to three weeks. Apple is turning into a regular Microsoft with the recent spate of product delays.

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A Bad Day at Pakistan Telecom

Sometimes I think I should have been a network engineer. I love all that "belly of the internet beast" stuff—giant high-speed routers, huge data pipes, and all things close to the backbone of the Internet. But then I remember my grades from my engineering classes, and why I dropped engineering, and switched my major to English. Perhaps the engineer who broke both YouTube and the Pakistani Internet yesterday should have switched his major, too, before it was too late. I mean, I wouldn't want to be that guy right now. Would you want to be the guy who kept Pervez Musharraf from getting to his MySpace page?

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Layers and SOA

I've been a little quiet, what with a visit to Barcelona (GSM World Congress), and then some pressure at work (making up for the lost time :) ). Hopefully I can now get back to regular blogging.

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Does WebOS = Virtualization?

An Indy-based independent consultant I know turned me on to Stoneware, makers of a webOS, not the heavy stuff your mother-in-law collects. Will it break into the desktop virt market?

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Report From India: Key IBM Unit Grows From 60 People To 800

In 2006, my colleague Paul McDougall was the first to spotlight the significance of IBM centering one of its key strategic units in India. That group, which creates reusable, SOA-based systems that IBM's consultants re-sell around the world, began with just 60 people then, and has grown to 800 today, part of IBM's 73,000 employees in India.

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Report From India: U.S. Could Learn From Offshorer's Training Obsession

Many companies in the United States complain about an IT talent shortage. Indian IT companies face brutal competition for talent, and one big part of their answer is huge hire-and-train efforts. There's something for U.S. companies to learn here.

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Up To The Challenge?

Mask complexity, improve performance, and automate every last function possible -- those, in a giant nutshell, are the biggest engineering challenges for storage in the next several years, according to some big thinkers who've deployed a SAN or two in their time.

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Interoperability Is Suddenly All the Rage

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Service Management In Acronym Land

I had a very informal chat with a buddy of mine about service management. And virtualization. Of course. Many TLAs were used.

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Keeping Employees ProductiveWhat Do You Mean I Cant Surf the Web?

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Community Building, Yes - But Why Facebook?

Continue reading "Community Building, Yes - But Why Facebook?..."

Last CIO Standing: Joke Contest Results

How many CIOs does it take to screw in a light bulb? That age-old philosophical question's not as easy to answer as you might think. Here are several responses to our CIO Joke contest.

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FCC Hearing on Comcast Set for Monday

WebProNews, CNET News

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Microsoft to Share Technology Secrets

Associated Press via SiliconValley.com and Wired News, Yahoo News

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Telligent Wants A Piece Of The Content Management Market

Rob Howard, CEO of Telligent, pulls no punches when he talks about his company's aspirations in the content management space. And the way Telligent markets its new CMS offering is just as brazen.

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GM To Sire Hybrid Pony Car?

New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning received a trophy, a ring, and his pick of Cadillacs for being the game-winning MVP of Super Bowl XLII earlier this month. But he won't be driving his new Caddy anytime soon.

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Best Buy Spills The Beans On Nokia Internet Tablet With WiMax

Last year Nokia confirmed that it is working on a WiMax-equipped version of its N800-series Internet tablet. Until this week, there hadn't been further news of the device. Well, Best Buy pictured an unannounced Nokia N830 Internet tablet in its February Mobile Buyer's Guide, and possibly gave away the big WiMax secret.

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Turning Work Into Play Is No Game

It sounds like techno-utopian silliness to say that businesses need to learn from online games how to make tedious knowledge-work more enjoyable. But many knowledge-work jobs are so deadly dull that the typical worker lasts just nine months -- in call centers, for example. Extend that by a few months, and businesses stand to save piles of money, said Byron Reeves, a professor in the department of communication at Stanford University.

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T-Mobile Launches VoIP Service

VoIP-News, E-Commerce News

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A Kindler, Gentler Microsoft Won't Happen From Within

Microsoft's recent announcements about its new openness initiatives have been greeted with great skepticism.  They deserve to be, because Microsoft deserves to be changed for the better -- but it's only going to come from the outside, not the inside.

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Unlocked iPhone Innovations Continue

Every day, it seems, developers come up with nifty new ways to use the iPhone to do this or that. The latest creations allow you to use your iPhone as a full touchpad remote for your PC, zoom through applications on the iPhone using CoverFlow, and LoJack your iPhone.

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EMC Targets Cloud Computing With Pi Buy

InfoWorld, ChannelWeb

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TDWI in Vegas: Bigger than Ever

This week's TDWI World Conference turned out to be one of the biggest, with more than 1,000 attendees and another 200 executives at the BI summit. The highlights for me included...

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Sergey Brin: MicroHoo 'Unnerving'

At a recent event, Google co-founder Sergey Brin called Microsoft's bid for Yahoo "unnerving" and said the move imperils innovation on the Internet. Google also posits that the merger would be illegal. Maybe the merger could violate antitrust laws. Or maybe Brin likes being King of the Mountain, and doesn't want anything to threaten that. Oh, and Brin? Innovation will continue with or without MicroHoo.

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Ask Not What Google Can Do For You …

"Don't be evil" is the search giant's mantra, but its operative phrase is "Get r' done." CIOs should take a lesson from the tech chief at the Cleveland Clinic and look for ways to work with innovative companies like Google to drive their organizations' agendas.

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Where Storage Gets Innovative

There are lots of good barometers out there -- the Dow Jones Industrial Average comes to mind, as does the Consumer Confidence Index. A little closer to home, this gauge of where VCs and angel investors are placing their bets tells you a lot about where storage is headed in the next 12 months.

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No Free Lunch

The party invites keep rolling in for product announcements in Cannes. Where, sadly I won't be for VMworld Europe 2008. But I have received a number of goodies, offers ,and handouts here in the States.

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Encrypted Disks At (Some) Risk To Eavesdroppers

Whether you are using Windows Vista BitLocker, Mac OS X FileVault, Linux-based dm-crypt, or open source disk encryption software TrueCrypt - your data could be at risk to snoops, researchers have found. While it is troubling news, all is not lost.

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The age of the SSD is upon us

One of the most fascinating features of the new MacBook Air  Apples ultra-portable notebook computer, introduced at Macworld, and now shipping  is that its one of the first on the market to have a solid state disk (SSD).

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Full Nelson: Appcelerator For Rich Internet Applications

We just wrote about Appcelerator a month ago -- in fact, it was our Startup of the Week. But we got a chance to talk to CEO Jeff Haynie, who gives a great overview of what this company is doing: letting you build rich Internet applications quickly using standard technology like HTML/CSS on the front end and Ruby On Rails, Java, PHP, .Net and more on the back end.

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Documentary Examines Mac Fanatics

An upcoming documentary interviews more than 50 "Macheads" in an unsuccessful attempt to figure out what makes the Mac inspire such loyal and fanatical devotion.

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Full Nelson: Krugle Code Search Not So Evil

I know. It sounds just like Google. It's search. How does Google allow it? It helps that the last name of one of Krugle's founders is Krugler. But the other founder is Steve Larsen -- couldn't they have named it after him? And was his name really always Ken Krugler, or did he change it just so they could do this? I will answer none of those questions. But I will tell you that I wish I were a developer, because Krugle, a code search engine, is an awesome idea. (Note, we have covered Krugle in this space before.)

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Satellite Strike Marks New Space Race

On the list of all-time non-reassuring assurances, today's Pentagon statement about the downing of crippled U.S. spy satellite ranked high.

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Obama Would Put A CTO In The Cabinet

Barack Obama plans to unveil his IT strategy, which will include making the job of federal chief technology officer a Cabinet-level position. He also wants to mandate open government meetings streamed over broadband and favors net neutrality.

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Enterprise 2.0 or Knowledge Management Warmed Over?

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Full Nelson: Redfly Neither Smartphone Nor Ultralight PC

By show of hands, how many people have attempted a business trip with only a (fill in your favorite term: PDA, Smartphone, whatever)? Keep those hands up . . . how many of this group has been satisfied with that experience? Anyone? We are at an infection point. No, NOT inflection -- please don't use that term (and don't call a stomach a tummy and don't ever let me catch you saying "mani-pedi"). We're becoming infected with the notion that we will not need a laptop. The choices include a.) the smartphone b.) the ultralight PC c.) the tablet and d.) the MacBook Air. There's no perfect choice, but there are inventive approaches. The answer just isn't here yet. Celio's Redfly is yet another interesting approach: e.) both "a" and "b."

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Yahoo Commits Microsoft's Money to Severance Packages

All Things Digital, InternetNews.com

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Vista SP1 Will Break Some Software

CNET News, PC Pro

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Learn To Hack -- Ethically!

Know your enemy means knowing how your enemy works. That's the philosophy behind McAfee's Foundstone Professional Services Ethical Hacking course. You, too, can learn how to find and exploit network vulnerabilities -- but only if you pledge to use the knowledge for good.

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Microsoft's New Mantra: Peace, Love, And Open Source?

People who work with open-source software tend to study Microsoft the way Kremlinologists once studied the Soviet Union: from the outside, and often at a considerable distance. It's a process that requires years of experience, a keen eye for detail -- and above all, a talent for reading between the lines.

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Voice Is Officially A Commodity

Verizon Wireless, AT&T;, T-Mobile, and U.S. Cellular (yes, it just announced this afternoon) proved it this week when they all unleashed unlimited voice plans for $99 per month. It's a service that we all just expect to have at our disposal. The real epiphany will occur, however, when the carriers come to the same realization about wireless data.

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Using Virtual Worlds For Social Therapy

Stanford University researchers discovered that users of virtual worlds like Second Life with attractive avatars were more confident in real life.

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Is Internet Censorship Doomed To Fail?

American companies like Microsoft, Google, and Yahoo help authoritarian governments, such as China, censor the Internet. The companies' defense: Internet censorship is doomed and bringing the Internet into countries -- even censored -- will hasten the day when those countries are open. But critics say those arguments are self-serving and just plain wrong.

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Commercial Open Source: A Half-Baked Business Model

PacketTrap CEO Steve Goodman struck a nerve with his prediction that commercial open source software companies are doomed to fail. The fact that his controversial position wasn't universally rejected is evidence that questions remain over the commercial open source model.

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Satellite Smithereens Preferable To Graveyard Orbit

The U.S. Navy says it is "very confident" it blasted a defective spy satellite to bits with an interceptor missile Wednesday night. Its next order of business, after definitively confirming the strike today or Friday, should be to play up the positive environmental benefits of the mission.

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Malware Goes Local: Report

InformationWeek, PR Newswire

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India Outsourcing Industry Chief Faces Criminal Prosecution

Nasscom, which just wrapped up an annual conference that drew thousands of people worldwide to Mumbai, has been hit with a nasty blow. Its president faces prosecution for allegedly failing to ensure the safety of a Hewlett-Packard nighttime call-center employee prior to her murder.

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Report From India: Wipro's U.S. Hiring Plans

Here's an update to Wipro's U.S. hiring plans, which we first reported last August when the Indian IT services company was acquiring U.S.-based data center operator Infocrossing. It has at least two new U.S. operations open and two on the drawing boards that, while far from a hiring flood, suggest a subtle strategic difference from other Indian IT services companies.

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The Smaller Business' Guide to Getting Ready for the Recession

We are living in uncertain economic times. Smaller businesses are breathlessly waiting for the recession that has seemed to be lurking just out of sight for a while now to finally make its appearance. It's time to get ready for our unwelcome but inevitable visitor.

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Google Spins Out Native Search Client For S60 Phones

It's sort of like a widget, but sort of not. This new mobile search client from Google sits on the home screen of your S60 mobile phone. You type search queries into it directly, hit search, and Google opens your Internet connection, performs the search, and displays the results. It's the fastest way to search the Internet from your phone.

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Catching Up With Zoho

Those of you curious to see how ambitious a Web-based application suite can be while still being built entirely on open standards need look no further than Zoho. The other day I spoke with company evangelist Raju Vegesna about what they've been doing in their ongoing attempt to beat both Microsoft Office and Google Docs at their own games. The short answer: quite a bit.

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Google Wants Your Medical Records

Last fall, Google announced that it will begin pushing into the health care arena by creating an electronic medical records system. The day for that push has finally come. Today, it announced a trial with the Cleveland Clinic that is supposed to give patients and doctors alike better access to a central records system that stores your health information. About time, or too risky?

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Microsoft Unveils New SMB Server Branding

Redmond Channel Partner

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Is Your Web Analytics Tool Next-Level Ready?

If your enterprise is ready to get to the "next level" in analytics - to have it help you drive decision support - you'll want to learn more about the Web analytics' vendors ability to integrate with other data and systems. This is the how web analytics can provide real business value for your enterprise.

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Vignette, OpenText Retool For Enterprise 2.0

For those of you who think Web 2.0 is a fad, you might want to take a look at what's on tap for some of content management's household names.

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Report From India: A Web-Based Startup, Employee Head Count: 2

India's IT scene has been defined by its outsourcing giants. Its future will be defined in large part by companies like dhanaX. I visited the microfinancing startup's Bangalore office this week, just days before its planned soft launch. They've spent about $20,000 to get this far. Can two people, in a shared office with the chairs still wrapped in plastic, really pull this off?

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10G iSCSI Solutions Move Closer to the Mainstream

Because of its IP based design and potential to lower storage costs, iSCSI has been gaining momentum recently. One reason why the technology may be worth a close look is it is now starting to support 10G bps transmission rates.

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Putting Enterprise 2.0 into Practice

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IBM Releases a Free 3D Multiplayer Game

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Tough Times in CDPland - Has Mendocino Bit The Dust?

Just two years ago it looked like Continuous Data Protection might actually replace the weekly full backup, nightly incremental backup tedium that's ruled the data center since T.Rex walked the earth. Microsoft's Data Protection Manager endorsed the concept, but was so limited it did more to open the market for other players like TimeSpring and FilesX than box them out. At the high end, Revivio, Mendocino Software, and Kaysha had Fibre Channel appliances that would split off writes to even the busiest database and journal them without putting a load on the database server. I even wrote a comparative review.

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Big Challenges Ahead

Late last week, the National Academy of Engineering issued a list of the biggest technical challenges of the 21st century, some real thorny knots like reverse-engineer the human brain and prevent nuclear terrorism. It got me wondering how the some of brightest minds in storage might answer the same question. So I asked them.

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Microsoft Moves To Squash 'Friendly' Worm

Last week, NewScientist ran a story about Microsoft's researching how worms -- really, really effective worms -- could be used to disseminate software patches. Today, Microsoft seems to be backing away from the idea.

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New Security Appliances from SonicWall

ChannelWeb, Internetnews.com

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An iPhone Clone That Runs Windows Spotted

Another iPhone clone just surfaced and it ain't pretty, folks. Engadget this week got hold of video and photos of the DaXian X999, a device that looks and operates like the iPhone but supposedly uses the Windows Mobile operating system.

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Google Needs To Create A Search Engine For Mobile Phones

Ever wish you could search for content on your phone effectively, just like you can on your desktop or the Internet? A company called Nuance offered a free trial to attendees of the Mobile World Congress last week that allowed you simply start typing a query in using T9. It automatically searched your entire phone for that content, be it a contact, file, image, application, etc. Google, can you do this, too?

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Video: How To Build An Intel QX9770 Quad-Core PC

Intel's newest top-of-the-line quad-core processor, the QX9770, won't officially ship until 2Q, but we've got a review unit. It's the most interesting device to come out of Intel in a while, since it pushes desktop performance ahead on several serious fronts: It's fabricated at 45-nm (OK, the QX6850 is, too), supports ultra-fast DDR3 memory, and has a 1600-MHz front-side bus -- Intel's speediest yet. I've started building a PC so I can benchmark the chip, and I've got the video to prove it. Check it out.

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Full Nelson: ClearContext Has a Fuzzy Outlook

I'm not an Outlook user, but most e-mail clients I have tried -- and even Outlook back when I used it -- seem pretty self-explanatory, so I'm a little unclear about the need for ClearContext. This product aims to make Outlook e-mail more manageable, more efficient, more automated. Maybe this is just one of those things where you don't know you're missing. Since our company is moving to Outlook in the next few months, maybe I'll have to see for myself.

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Predictive Analytics 101: The Limits of Intuition

In a TDWI Executive Summit presentation entitled "The Yin and Yang of Implementing Predictive Analytics," Matt Schwartz of Corporate Express presented the "Yin," exploring the office supply company's 18-month foray into prediction. He asked attendees, "when people order a stapler on CorporateExpress.com, what else is going to be in their shopping cart?" The answer might surprise you.

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Good Thing RIM Doesn't Have A Campy Slogan About Reliability. Otherwise I'd Be Skewering It Right Now

Is anyone else getting tired of BlackBerry e-mail slowdowns and outages? I am, and I don't even use a BlackBerry any more. IT admins fielding cranky phone calls from e-mail-deprived workers must really be getting tired of it. Reports were flooding user forums this morning of yet another failure in RIM's e-mail service. If your enterprise BlackBerrys are kaput, what's your back-up plan?

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Business Blogging Rules And Best Practices

I believe in blogging. I have to, I'm a blogger. But blogging can also be a useful tool for small and midsize companies -- if you do things right and avoid the potential minefields.

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Report From India: In The Villages, A Tantalizing Morsel Of Broadband

The farmers of Brahmanwada, a small farming village I visited this week in central India, use a shared Internet connection called e-choupal to check crop prices, so they can decide if it's worth hiring a truck to take their goods to market. It's an Internet success story. But things got really interesting when I asked them what information they'd like to get online that they can't yet, and the ideas started flying.

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Backpack Revamps With Group Features

37 Signals' Backpack

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An Effective Way to Get Your Business Tech Idea Some (Deserved) Attention

Smaller businesses often have great tech ideas or great tech products or great tech services that would help the business world -- but getting the word out about those ideas or products or services cost big bucks, right? Not always.

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Mozilla Messaging: Our Escape From Outlook?

If there's any one closed source application I know I depend on, it's Outlook.  And if there's any one open source application that can unseat Outlook, it's Thunderbird -- er, Mozilla Messaging.  Not because it's better than Outlook -- it's not.  Not yet, anyway.

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Microsoft Pulls Vista Update

Computerworld

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An Invitation To Startups And Innovative Software Companies

Got a new and interesting product that the business technology world should know about? Here are three ways to get the word out.

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Can We Have Affordable Solar Energy By 2050?

Last week the U.S. National Academy of Engineering (NAE) announced a list of grand challenges for engineering in the 21st century. The goal was to identify what needs be done by the engineering community to help humanity thrive.

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AT&T;, T-Mobile Add Unlimited Call Plans

The Boston Globe

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MoonLite, Moon Bright: NASA To Build Wireless Phone Network On The Moon

Yes, you read that correctly. NASA and the British National Space Centre are working together to develop a mobile phone system for the colony that will eventually inhabit the moon. Say what?!?

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Do You Hate Your Content Management System?

Even though most of us agree that content management systems are critical to serving our markets, there's just as many of us that would rejoice if we never had to touch a piece of CMS code again.

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Report From India: Look For More Pay-For-Performance Offshoring

Indian outsourcers are inking some deals that tie their pay to performance -- usually to some operations yardstick such as uptime, but in the more innovative cases, to some business measurement. One CIO talks of tying outsourcer pay to the same measurement that his bonus is. Here are a few examples I've picked up the last two weeks here in India.

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TDWI Selection Bias: It Depends Whom You Ask

The saying "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics" is attributed to Benjamin Disraeli, and it's nicely illustrated in a couple of Intelligent Enterprise reality-check photos from this week's TDWI conference. Check out the TDWI Image Gallery photos for clear illustrations of "selection bias": not TDWI's fault, but an effect to keep in mind when you assess formal and informal research findings.

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Thinking to the Side

Even back in 1994, Alex Lane was warning programmers not to rely solely on the language-du-jour to solve all their problems. As this nugget from AI Expert illustrates, an open mind has always been a useful tool.

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Citrix Beta Of XenServer 4.1 Targets March Production

I was weighing topic posts tonight, and Xen won out over VMware. Will this be a trend in the market? Demo v4.1 and see for yourself.

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"The CIO Is Dead"

Hey, it's not my pronouncement. It comes from Ian Campbell, CEO of Nucleus Research, who is quick to call it what it is: hyperbole, which is defined as exaggeration to make a point. But that doesn't make it not true -- at least to a certain extent.

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That Didn't Take Long

And mercifully so -- the battle over the next-gen DVD came to a close as Toshiba threw in the high-def towel today. But as quickly as data and media formats are evolving, does it really matter?

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Microsoft Backs News-Crunching Startup

Silobreaker has joined Microsoft's Startup Accelerator Program. A news aggregation portal similar to Google News, Silobreaker goes a step further by displaying the relationships between subjects in the news, global news hotspots, and the amount of media attention devoted to a topic.

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Crapware Moves From Annoying To Threatening

As I read the news of a security exploit for Microsoft Works, it struck me that the companies delivering our computer hardware and software often work at cross purposes. One of the core principles of computer security is to reduce attack surfaces by removing or disabling software so that it won't run by default. Yet the pre-installed crapware on most OEM systems does just the opposite.

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When Good Intentioned Users Do Harm

Minneapolis-based data recovery and forensic software maker Kroll Ontrack published a list of what the company estimates to be some of most common mistakes end users make when trying to save data from a failing drive.

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Join Us For GridTalk On Friday With Wagner James Au, Author Of "The Making Of Second Life"

Join us in Second Life and on the Web for a conversation with Wagner James Au, author of the new book, The Making Of Second Life, a history of the virtual world, its creators, and residents. The book is a terrific chronicle of a four-year technological landmark and cultural phenomenon.

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Open Source For Fun And (Mostly) Profit

What does open-source software mean to you? I see Open Source as a way to beef up your company's bottom line and to beat your competitors -- if it is used effectively.

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Once Left For Dead, Magazines Enjoy Web Rebirth

In a time of widespread devastation in the magazine industry, here's a bit of cheering news: the Magazine Publishers of America's latest quarterly data shows that in the free-for-all digital-media world, the dead trees guys are actually starting to hold their own with endemic Web properties.

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Symantec Offers SMB Storage And Backup Services

As today's bMighty ANTenna points out, security giant Symantec is making a move into small and midsize business services. Its first salvos: hosted backup and online storage.

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The Cat And Mouse Game Between AT&T; And Verizon Wireless Continues

First thing this morning, Verizon Wireless announced a handful of unlimited calling plans. Just hours later, AT&T; responded with a similar set of plans, centering around the apparent sweet spot of $100 per month. Is all-you-can-eat the next battleground, and can anyone win it?

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Microsoft Refuses to Raise Bid for Yahoo, Threatens Proxy Fight

New York Times, ITWorld.com

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Symantec Launches Online Storage and Backup Solutions

The Register, CNN Money

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Data Domain's DD120 Brings De-Duping Down To Branch Offices

In the four short years since Data Domain introduced their original DD240 appliance, hardware data de-duplication in the data center has evolved from interesting technology to accepted, if not yet standard, practice. While big enterprise data centers with petabytes of data and hundreds of terabytes of nightly backups are still more interested in raw speed than storage efficiency, most of us could improve our backup infrastructure significantly with de-duplication. With the new DD120, Data Domain brings the cost of data de-duplication down to the point where it makes sense for branch offices.

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A Happy Return To SMB

My mug debuts on bMighty today. As the new editor, its good to be back in the thick of the innovation and action that remains the lifeblood of small and mid-size business; I hope youll join us in our ongoing quest to uncover whats in I.T. for SMB?

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Google Apps Gets Integrated Telephony Features

Let's say you're a Google shop. You run Google everything, including Mail, Chat, Apps, Calendar, and so on. You recently caught wind of unified communications services and how they consolidate a lot of your, well, communications, into one place. Cool, right? A new offering from Voice Mobility lets you integrate those unified communications telephony services into your existing Google Apps set up.

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The Black Swan, Or You Can't Predict The Next Google

If you read one book this year, make sure it's Nassim Nicholas Taleb's "The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable." Taleb's thesis is that everything the experts think they know about forecasting is wrong, and if you think you can predict the future performance of the stock market from a study of past trends, you're gonna be losing lots of money. And don't go looking for the next Google, either, because it's going to come out of left field.

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Full Nelson: SaaS Startup LongJump Reaches For The Clouds

Stop me if you've heard this story before: software as a service, but not just a product, a platform, with APIs for companies to build on; fully customizable, mostly for SMBs, hovering around CRM. No, this is not another story about Salesforce.com, but a small startup called LongJump based in Sunnyvale, Calif., where the CEO -- Pankaj Malviya -- also is the founder and the CTO and probably shuts out the lights when all the employees go home for the night.

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Join Us For InformationWeek Live -- Later Today

I'm pleased to report that Microsoft will be joining us at 3 pm Eastern time today for our InformationWeek Live session to discuss the company's big, upcoming server announcements. Microsoft plans to launch Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008, and Visual Studio 2008 on Feb. 27 -- the first server OS upgrade in five years, and the first database upgrade in three.

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Verizon Unveils Wireless Plan For Power Users

E-Commerce Times

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Amazon Had a Very Bad Day. But Keep Reaching for Those Clouds

Much was made of the problems Amazon's Web services had last week. Its data storage service was down for a few hours, leaving many smaller businesses in the lurch. Is cloud computing not the knight in Web storage armor small businesses had hoped for?

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No Rest For the Security Weary: Report

PR Newswire

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Sprint Bows Another World-Roaming Smartphone

For those who just have to have Sprint cellular service but still want to be able to roam overseas, a new smartphone from Samsung lets you do both. The ACE is a BlackJack look-alike that can use Sprint's high-speed EV-DO wireless data in the U.S., but also has a SIM card slot and GSM radio for use in Europe and elsewhere.

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Report From India: Warning-- A Startup Job Could Be Hazardous To Your Marriage Prospects

When Siva Prasad Cotipalli quit a plum marketing job with Oracle in India to found a startup, his mother didn't worry about his business plan. "She's worried if I'll get married," says Cotipalli, whose company, Dhanax, is a two-person, Internet-based microlending startup that I visited today in Bangalore. Startups sound cool, but in India would-be in-laws prefer to see Infosys or IBM on the business card.

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Windows Server 2008 Is SP1... Huh?

Many companies wait until the first service pack of Microsoft operating systems are released before deploying them. With Windows Server 2008, the initial release is already Service Pack 1. You read that right.

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TDWI Insight: Guiding BI From the Top

To develop effective business intelligence programs, lead with organization, not technology. That was the advice from keynote speaker Tracy Austin here at the TDWI World Conference and Executive Summit here in Las Vegas this week. Austin is the former CIO of Mandalay Resort Group and former VP of IT at Harrah's Entertainment, one of the most celebrated BI-driven enterprises in the world. Here are Austin's 10 principles for guiding "BI From the Top:"

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Exit One Format War, Enter Another

The news is in: Toshiba is throwing in the towel for HD DVD, leaving Blu-ray Disc as the carrier for next-generation home video.  Now comes the next format war for video: physical media vs. digital downloads.

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RIM Hauls Motorola Into Court

Relations between the US and Canada grew frosty as Montreal, based Research In Motion pulled Schaumberg, Ill Motorola into court. The two sides are warring over wireless patents and payments, a quick resolution seems unlikely, and businesses could suffer.

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Security And (Or) Regulatory Compliance

Anyone who knows me knows that I don't believe achieving regulatory compliance is a technology problem. Sure, good tech will help you get there. But at it's core, compliance is a processes problem. And a pet peeve of mine has been how the mad dash toward regulatory compliance has, in many organizations, forced CISOs to take their eye off of security.

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Vista's Anytime Upgrade Is An Every-Time Hassle

Typically, users and small businesses buy a computer with either Vista Home or Vista Business installed by the manufacturer. Microsoft offers these users an opportunity to upgrade to Vista Ultimate via the Anytime Upgrade process. These past few weeks I have been working to help a user who's had a nightmare of a time with her HP computer running Vista. At this point I don't know the complete list of problems and haven't yet seen a full resolution, but one thing has already been made very clear: Windows Anytime Upgrade is a first-class pain in the butt.

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Report From India: Infrastructure's The Latest Offshore Outsourcing Prime Target

The offshore outsourcing industry's looking at running data centers remotely as one of its hottest growth segments. One reason, a recent report concludes, is that as hardware prices fall, labor takes an ever-larger share of the costs. So to cut costs, CIOs will cut staff, the consulting firm McKinsey predicts. "Moore's Law's latest victim has become labor," Vivek Pandit, a McKinsey consultant, told attendees at the recent Nasscom conference here in India.

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Reports: iPhone Firmware 1.1.4 And SDK Nearly Ready, Apple Using Hackers

User forums are pointing that the long-awaited software developer kit for the iPhone is ready to hit the street. In Apple CEO Steve Jobs' MacWorld address, he specifically said it would be ready at the "end of February." That's still 10 days away. More reports say that Apple is reaching out to iPhone hackers to help with the SDK release and 1.1.4 update.

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Google Search Results Now Showing Video Ads

Late last week Google began testing a new way to advertise within search results: video ads. Rather than the barely visible text ads you see off to the right of your results pages, the new ads will feature everything from images and maps to full-on video. The evolution of advertising marches onward.

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Wireless Security In A Sorry State, Mobile Viruses Feared By Many

Last week at Mobile World Congress, a new survey indicated that the public is afraid that their mobile devices will catch a rare virus. At the same time, a whitepaper from Codenomicon takes a look at the vulnerabilities of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Is the public -- and, more important, IT -- right to be afraid?

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The Myth of the Paperless Office

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The Wealthy Use Google, The Poor Use Yahoo

Talk about a digital divide. Hitwise recently performed some analysis of the traffic patterns on the Google and Yahoo search engines. Google users tended to be older and spend more money online. Yahoo users, conversely, were often younger and spent less money online. Which is the better audience to have?

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Report From India: Patent Battles Raging Here, Too

One serious concern about offshoring product development work to India, or anywhere, is whether there's sufficient intellectual property protection. Today's Sunday Economic Times here in Mumbia shows patents are a hot issue here, too. The lead story involves a motorcycle company whose managing director describes its strategy as B-to-B: bikes to get the babes.

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Join Us For InformationWeek Live To Discuss Microsoft's Enterprise Server Announcements

Microsoft plans to launch Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008, and Visual Studio 2008 on Feb. 27 -- the first server OS upgrade in five years, and the first database upgrade in three. The products are the foundation of Microsoft's lucrative servers and tools business. But with Microsoft fallen behind on key technologies for the server products, and challenges from competitors including Linux, can Microsoft maintain momentum?

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Green Benefit Calc For VM'ing Your Data Center

Just how much CO₂ is offset by virtualizing your servers? Oriel, an Aussie VMware partner, offers a calculator that explicitly shows the benefit to the planet for P-to-V conversions.

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Sprint, Clearwire To Reforge WiMax Pact

According to sources, Sprint and Clearwire are set to re-announce a more concrete deal regarding WiMax. Those who are party to the discussions say that a huge cash infusion from Intel, to the tune of $2 billion, is helping to seal the deal. WiMax may have a future after all.

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Windows Server Goes Green

When Microsoft celebrates the latest launches of Windows Server, SQL Server, and Visual Studio later this month, one of the talking points will be energy savings. With that in mind, InformationWeek recently sat down with Microsoft's new chief environmental strategist, Rob Bernard.

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10-4 Good Buddy

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Safety In Numbers

There's a great movie I hope they still show in math and science classes called something like "Powers of 10." It begins with a shot of an earthbound human, then zooms out 100 feet, then 10,000 feet, racking up the exponents til we're out in Carl Sagan country. It then reverses itself into the subatomic realm. It blew my 10-year old mind, such that when the discussion turns to how much an exabyte is, I go right back there.

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Amazon's Data Storage Service Goes Down, Leaving Businesses Stuck

Computerworld, CNET News

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Oracle Expands Sales to SMBs

ChannelWeb

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VMware Working The Channel

I spoke with VMware last week about its recent channel initiatives. The company is listening to its partners, broadening incentives worldwide to crank up sales.

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Beware Smaller Businesses: Do Not Anger the Google Gods

Getting 'blacklisted' by Google is as scary a prospect as it sounds. Recently, a blogger for HitWise, an online marketing company, demonstrated what happened to a company that got 'blacklisted' from Google. The results are as bad as you would think.

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World's Cleanest Car Vs. World's Cheapest Car

The MDI OneCAT may be the cleanest car ever invented. It may also be a smokescreen for the dirt-cheap -- and dirty -- Nano from Tata Motors.

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A New Twist to Online Advertising

Computerworld

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Musical Chairs Among Microsoft Execs

InformationWeek

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SCO Lives! Aarrgh! Rawrr!

The more I watch SCO's progress -- from Unix vendor to patent-wielding lawsuit machine to bankrupt has-been, and now a privately funded corporate reboot -- the more I feel like I'm watching one of those cheesy 1960s Japanese monster movies with a nigh-unkillable creature from outer space.  The super heat ray didn't work on the monster, the mysterious Element X that spews out Radiation Y didn't have any effect either, and now the scientists are falling back on the absolute last resort plan of them all: Awaken Godzilla!  Would that we had Godzilla here, though.

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My Open Letter To Dan Savage

Dear Dan: I never thought I'd be writing to you, a known sex columnist. Because I've never had one of those, you know, problems. But now I hear you've taken issue with my recent blog post, where I asked "Is Podcasting Dead?" I hear you even trashed me on your Savage Love Podcast, saying, "You're clearly dead from the waist down, that's why my podcast doesn't appeal to you."

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IBM on Text Technologies for the Legal Sector

My last blog article relayed key points about e-discovery and potential knowledge-discovery (KDD) applications in the legal sector that were reinforced by my participation in the recent LegalTech conference. A LegalTech exhibitor mentioned his company's discussions with IBM, so I dropped IBM text-technologies researcher Aaron Brown a note. He graciously gave me permission to share his response, which I'll post verbatim...

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Report From India: 5 Reasons To Outsource

Cost is No. 5 on the list for Robert Willett, CIO of Best Buy and CEO of its international operation. A partnership with an IT services company needs to save money, but "if you move cost to No. 1, you might as well not outsource." Here is his full list.

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Report From India: Specialized Wave Of Global IT

At a presentation at the Nasscom conference for the Indian IT industry, Arjun Malhotra, CEO and chairman of the consulting firm Headstrong, offered this advice to small or midsized IT services company in India: "Focus on something, and be the best at it." Here are two examples of companies already trying to pursue that model, GlobalLogic and Photon Infotech.

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A (Potentially) Bad Idea Is Resurrected At Microsoft

The software maker is researching ways to use worms as a software patch distribution mechanism. Not on any of my machines.

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'Pleased To Put This Matter Behind Us'

As a journalist, it makes me wince to witness reporters getting all sanctimonious when in reality they're doing little more than burnishing their reputations. But the roles got reversed as Hewlett-Packard settled one of two sets of pretexting and spying claims yesterday, acting and speaking with a smugness and neutrality that don't really put the matter behind anyone.

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Social Networking Coming to Mobile Phones, BlackBerrys

SiliconRepublic, CNET News

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Novell Acquires Collaboration Enabler SiteScape

ChannelWeb

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The Secret's Out On Open Source

What is the most important difference between open-source and proprietary software development? That's a secret -- although not in the way that you might think.

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Review: Leopard Grows Up With Mac OS X 10.5.2 Update

What's the main improvement in the three-day-old Mac OS X 10.5.2? Increased stability. With previous versions of Leopard, I had to force-quit a frozen application once or twice a day, but with 10.5.2, I haven't had to do it even once. "It just works" is once again a description of the Mac, not just wishful thinking, as it has been since Leopard shipped in October.

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Wanted: CIO

OK, CIOs are getting laid off. So, are there CIO jobs available? Here's one at a major university. Two cautionary notes: You'll have to move to Ohio. And it's obviously a very demanding position.

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When Harry 'Online Dating' Met Sally 'Social Networking'

I'm usually a sucker for romance, especially during this time of year, which is why when I got off the train this morning and was greeted by a red rose from Engage.com, I had to stop and find out more.

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Nobody Starts from Scratch on Rich Internet Apps

Every new piece of software has to be considered in light of existing software, even if the latter is ultimately replaced or ignored. This is also true of companies that make software development products, but what about new companies?... They don't have any legacy software of their own to support, but if they want to sell into enterprise IT shops, they need to be compatible with lots of other software...

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The Demise Of Commercial Open Source

Steve Goodman, co-founder and CEO of network management startup PacketTrap Networks, is predicting that commercial open source companies are doomed to fail. Goodman's not railing against open source or commercial software, per se. It's converting the former into the latter that he sees as inherently flawed.

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Valentine's Day For The Geek In Your Life

Valentine's Day is here once more. Scores of greeting card manufacturers, chocolatiers, and teddy-bear makers are frolicking giddily among the hills of green (money, that is), having convinced us again that telling that special someone "I love you" every other day of the year just isn't enough.

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HP Adds Blade to Integrity Server Family

ChannelWeb

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Motorola's Phantom Announcement Is A Bad Sign

Motorola is hurting. Bad. It debuted just three new phones this week at one of the largest mobile gatherings around the sphere. All three are re-worked versions of previous models ... for emerging markets. Motorola's tail is officially, and firmly, tucked between its legs.

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Microsoft And OEMs Both To Blame For Vista Logo Program

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported on an interesting lawsuit regarding Microsoft's Vista logo program. The suit alleges that Microsoft deceived customers by allowing OEMs to label low-end computers as "Windows Vista Capable" when they were only capable of running the feature-challenged Vista Home Basic. As much as Microsoft screwed up here, though, OEMs shouldn't get a pass on their complicity.

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Best Buy + Data Loss = Lawsuit

Do a search for "I hate Best Buy" and you'll find a growing list of disgruntled customer blog posts and discussion threads. Needless to say, the electronics retailer is no stranger to business practice controversies. The latest tale of woe, however, opens up a whole new can of worms for the company, thrusting it into the arena of data loss.

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Sun Snags Innotek -- Should I Wince?

Sun just made another open source acquisition: Innotek, the makers of the open source VirtualBox virtual machine application.  Unlike MySQL, though, this is one open source acquisition that hits home for me in a major way.

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CA Upgrades Mid-Market Backup Products

The company has launched a new version of CA Recovery Management, which includes modules for ARCserve Backup and two disaster recovery/CDP products.

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Samsung Intros Printer for SMBs

ChannelWeb

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Report From India: Outsourcing For Innovation

A lot of companies do outsourcing for IT services. But can outsourcing deliver true tech-enabled innovation? British Petroleum CTO P.P. Darukhanavala thinks it can, but warns "sourcing for innovation" requires a much different approach, far more partners, and a hand-picked staff of people focused on the effort.

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Valentine's Virus-Mail-- Anything But Romantic

Won't you be my Valentine? Won't you be my VirusTime is more like it, as a storm of malicious e-cards and messages breaks across the Net. Don't click on any unexpected e-cards or messages, however Cupid-cute -- and warn your employees not to, either.

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Google's Mindshare At Mobile World Congress Is Practically Zero

Aside from the low-level buzz surrounding the Android platform, no one at Mobile World Congress is talking about Google. What happened to Google changing the mobile world?

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Google Releases New SDK For Android

Google has made a new version of the Android SDK available to developers. It offers new tools and a brand new user interface. Here are the details.

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IBM Answers Competitors Storage Challenge

The major hardware suppliers, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, and IBM, understand the growing importance that storage solutions play in the enterprises. Consequently, they have been trying to outdo one another with a spate of high profile announcements.

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MessageOne EMS -- Mail Management From The Cloud?

MessageOne's whole premise is that it's easier and possibly cheaper to provide e-mail filtering, continuity, and archiving from the Net than for organizations to use software and appliances and roll their own solutions. For many organizations, especially those with many distributed servers, it may be. Let's take a look at how each of their services looks against the popular alternatives.

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Now, That's Service

Six weeks into the year and you're finally remembering that sinuous "8" when you write a new check. And it's been barely a week since the Year of the Rat celebrations ended. No matter -- in Storageville, it's pretty safe if we just go ahead and label this the Year of Storage Services.

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Salesforce.com's Content Moves Are More Than A Web 2.0 Facelift

I've been waiting to see what Salesforce.com will do with Koral after last year's acquisition. When I first tested Koral in late 2006, I remember thinking it was onto something, I just didn't see the Salesforce.com train rolling into the station.

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Major Leopard update is just what the user ordered

The second major update to Mac OS X "Leopard" came out yesterday, and version 10.5.2 vastly improves stability of the operating system. For the first time, we can safely say that Leopard is as stable as Mac OS X 10.4.11, "Tiger."

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Dell Buys Brother's Company MessageOne For $155 Million

Dell coughed up $155,000,000 for e-mail continuity specialist MessageOne, a company that just happened to be founded by Michael Dell's little brother, Adam. The official press release describes all the hoops Dell jumped through, including throwing a small pile of money at Morgan Stanley to bless the price, to make this look like an arm's length transaction. After all, various Dell family investment vehicles owned almost 10% of MessageOne. While I suspect no one at Dell would have gone looking for MessageOne just because they had money to spend, after all there must be an online backup provider still available. With Michael giving his share of the money to charity, the real question is was it a good deal?

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Zero-Day Attacks Trend Down? I Don't Give A Flying Hoot

Security researchers and the press like to parse vulnerability trends. They like to argue (among themselves) as to whether zero-day attacks are on the rise, and if the underground is selling or sandbagging the security flaws these black hats uncover. I say: So what? None of this should matter to you.

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Open-Source Security: Trust, But Verify

Is open-source software more secure than proprietary software? There may be just one company on the planet that can answer that question, and they aren't talking. What they can tell us, however, may be just as interesting -- and perhaps even more disturbing.

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Business Objects' Stealthy XI 3.0 Announcement

What's now called "Business Objects, an SAP company" yesterday announced a major new BusinessObjects XI 3.0 platform, but I, for one, had zero advanced notice. Judging by the dearth of coverage until today, other journalists were in much the same position. And this is an announcement that deserves a bit of time to digest! Here's what's in store...

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Full Nelson: Mobile + Search + Taptu

In the weeks leading up to Mobile World Congress, at least 50% of the approximately 1,000 media meeting requests were from mobile content companies. Indeed, there's an entire hall here dedicated to content (and scantily clad women whose only English skills are Body English). The hall is at the top of a hill, so it takes some hiking in the chill winter air. But once you've gotten beyond WiMax (yes, why?) and LTE (long term evolution -- and by long, we mean looooong), it's nice to see what's supposed to be the end result. Except this year there wasn't much to see, save for a brief appearance from Robert Redford and Isabella Rossellini. (Camera crews jostled for position, lining up for an hour and blocking the thoroughfare just to watch them watch a giant touch screen demo. Who knew we were paparazzi?)

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What Hath Roger Clemens Wrought?

Nothing hammers home how the Web has become the de facto national fireplace than today's congressional hearing on steroids. Both of New York's morning tabloids -- the News and the Post -- featured big ads from CNN, teasing readers to "Watch Roger Clemens' Testimony LIVE. At your desk." That collective giant mouse click you heard was employers everywhere getting ripped off.

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Text Technologies in the Legal World

"Discovery" is a legal process whereby parties to a lawsuit request and provide documents and information that may be pertinent in litigation. "Discovery" also describes an analytics goal that has nothing to do with the court system: extraction of useful information — data, facts, and rules, which together constitute knowledge — from databases and textual sources. Can legal mandates be turned to business advantage?

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Pressure on Yahoo Increases

Yahoo News, InformationWeek

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Net Neutrality: Comcast Defends Itself, Congress Considers New Bill

CNET News, CNET News

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Google Warns Of Search Fraud Surge

As search engines become the default starting point for many if not most Web activities, they're increasingly targeted by crooks. That's what Google's finding, and pretty grim findings they are.

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Hands-On With TrueCrypt 5: Open Source System-Wide Encryption

Scarcely a week goes by these days without word of the theft of a computer with sensitive personal information on it.  It's gotten that much easier to protect such data with whole-drive encryption, but those kinds of solutions have typically been proprietary, like Windows Vista's BitLocker (which isn't available in all versions of Vista, either).  Now comes version 5 of the free and open source encryption system TrueCrypt, which features -- you guessed it -- whole-drive encryption.   My associate George Hulme touched on TrueCrypt before, but I decided to try encrypting my Windows notebook with it and see how it held up.

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What Caused BlackBerry's Three-Hour Hiccup

InformationWeek, CNET News.com

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My (Latest) Ugly American Moment

In traveling to 20-some countries, I suspect I've inadvertently offended someone in nearly every one. Anyone who does business internationally dreads the moment they'll make some cultural gaffe. It took me one day in India to put my foot into it, all too literally.

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The $54M Lawsuit -- Or How Not To Treat Your Customers

Best Buy lost a customer's laptop, gave the customer the run around, wouldn't fess up, and then, finally made a paltry settlement offer ostensibly in the hope that she would go away. She did -- and then came back with a $54 million lawsuit. That's one way to make them think twice about their customer service.

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Mozilla Releases Firefox 3 Beta 3 For Testing

PC Magazine

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CIO Turnover: An Uptick Or A Trend?

Know of any openings for experienced, hard-working, forward-thinking CIOs? Because I know of a few who are looking for work.

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Liquid Computing's New CEO Outlines A Plan

Greg McElheran, the new CEO of Liquid Computing, explains the recent decision to replace the company's former CEO as being a shift in focus from product development to sales. Having spent four years building its fabric-computing system, Liquid Computing needs to find customers willing to pay for its fancy box.

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Video: First Look At Access Mobile Linux Platform

Google is not the only one working on a mobile Linux platform. Access has been hard at work on its own next-generation mobile Linux operating system. The demo we saw at Mobile World Congress shows how capable and user-friendly the system is.

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Video: Using NFC To Get Info, Make Payments

Mobile World Congress has been a great place to get lots of demonstrations on up-and-coming technology. One that has a lot of promise is near-field communications. Here's a video that shows how it can be used.

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Microsoft Rails Against Fasthosts' Office SaaS

I figured we would see a few of these. As SaaS takes off, major software vendors who were slow in the SaaS uptake may find that others do it for them, whether or not they have agreements. Microsoft is first to toss a punch at their partner Fasthosts, whose new product, Office SaaS, is a bit too similar to Office Client, according to Microsoft.

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Weaving BPM into the Enterprise

At last week's Gartner BPM Summit, Elise Olding moderated a panel on weaving BPM into the enterprise, with Eric Abecassis, Architecture and Integration Manager with Schlumberger, Jim Boots, Enterprise Architect at Chevron, and Kevin Morgan, Program Manager at Dolby... It was good to hear some success stories about how organizations are starting to become more process centric.

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When A Key Vendor Goes Away; Or, Choose Your Encryption Well

Reacting to the seemingly endless conga line of companies announcing one of their employees lost a laptop or tape that held un-encrypted customer data, some organizations rushed into encryption solutions that may have caused more problems than they solve. While pundits recommended SAN encryption appliances for performance, the market turned out to be smaller than expected, forcing vendors Kasten Chase and NeoScale out of business in the past 18 months. Customers of these defunct vendors have a whole lot of ugly work ahead.

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CA Surveys 300 IT Execs

Last fall CA hit up IT management at shops earning $250M+ revenue to check the pulse of virtualization. 300 professionals from the U.S., U.K., Germany, Australia and Korea replied. They're sharing the goods.

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The Changing Role Of The CISO?

Just a few years ago, the chief information security officer's focus was to defend business-technology systems from the continuous barrage of viruses, worms, denials-of-service, and many other types of attacks that placed system availability and information at risk. For many, I suspect, this role has changed dramatically.

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Partners That Compete

I know cooperative competition is supposed to be a cornerstone of business today. Still, I have to wonder how much further down the path to recovery will Dell get before its primary storage partner EMC complains?

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25 Laptops Priced For Smaller Companies

Don't worry too much if your company won't shell out $3098 to buy you a MacBook Air. It turns out you can get a useful, portable, powerful notebook computer for a lot less.

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What Exactly Does A CIO Do?

The reason I ask is because I'm seeing a lot of different job responsibilities connected to the CIO title lately. Is this because the position is changing, or because certain individuals are embracing -- even demanding -- a more critical role?

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Microsoft Office, Internet Explorer At Greatest Risk

Microsoft unleashed 11 security bulletins today, as part of its monthly patch cycle. Six of the bulletins are rated by the software vendor as "Critical," and five are ranked as "Important." You'll want to patch yourself right away, but if you had to prioritize . . .

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Alfresco Survey Provides Data On Enterprise Open Source Usage

Open source ECM provider Alfresco is publicizing the release of its second global survey of open source use in the enterprise.

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Lawyer For Murdered Stripper's Son Subpoenas SkyTel For Text Messages

Just when it seemed panic in Detroit had reached a fervent pitch, there is another bizarre twist in the text-message scandal. A lawyer is trying to force SkyTel to hand over any text messages sent from city employee pagers, and their GPS coordinates, the morning that a stripper named Strawberry was murdered in Detroit.

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Prepare for Mobile Spam Onslaught, Cloudmark Warns

Marketwire

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Microsoft, Dell Add E-Mail Solutions

InformationWeek, ChannelWeb

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India's Enterprise Software Startups

I'll be at the India IT industry's Nasscom conference in Mumbai this week, and one thing I'll be looking to learn is how fertile people feel the ground is for Indian startups making business software products. One key ingredient is certainly for more Indian professionals to do what Manav Garg has: Leave a BigCo salary job for the uncertainty of startups. Garg and others say the startup culture that fuels that is just starting to take root in India.

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FOSS Wars: Trend Micro Vs. ClamAV And Barracuda Networks

Welcome to the next round of open-source software patent litigation.  This time, it's antivirus software maker Trend Micro versus Barracuda Networks and ClamAV, and Barracuda isn't going down without a fight.

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Second Time's the Charm for Blackberry

For the second time in a year, Blackberry addicts, I mean users, have had to deal with a disruption in their service. This time it was their wireless connection to email and the Web. Did all those idling thumbs mean increased traffic in Apple stores?

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Akorri Rolls Out Virtual Storage Management Software

Enterprise Storage Forum

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HYDRAstor De-Duplicating Grid Storage For Backup And Archive From NEC? Yes, NEC

Much as I always respected the engineering of NEC's products in the past, the one thing you wouldn't call them is exciting. The short form of the review of the S2500 disk array I wrote a couple of years ago in Network Computing would have read "Solid modular disk array has all the features you'd expect, but mothering unique. They sell a lot of them in the home market, so don't worry about being a guinea pig." Well, with HYDRAstor, it has something unique.

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Video: The HTC Advantage

Here's some more video from on-site in Barcelona at the Mobile World Congress. This time around, we get an in-depth demo of the re-designed HTC Advantage.

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BlackBerry Outage: All's Well That Ends Well?

Computerworld, InformationWeek

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How SaaS Changes IT Sales

SaaS is not only changing the way we use software but also how vendors sell software... In the traditional sales model, the idea is to dazzle the customer in the beginning, make huge promises, and then collect the big check... In the SaaS model, the power is really with the customer, and the sales people have to take a very different approach to selling.

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I Touched The Google Phone

I got to spend some time with the Android platform at Mobile World Congress. Here's some video action so you can check it out for yourselves.

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Video and Location Based Services Poised to Arrive on Mobile Devices

The future of mobile devices is on display this week at the Mobile World Congress 2008 in Barcelona. Handhelds that support high quality video and those that can be easily tracked will become more common in the coming months.

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Full Nelson: Bienvenidos a Barcelona

That's about the extend of my Spanish. I'm trying to learn: "Where can I buy toothpaste," but people just keep pointing me to La Rambla -- the famous strip of shopping, food, and professional pickpockets. I've always been fascinated by this city, its architecture (the breathtaking Sagrada Familia; the omnipresence of Gaudi), its food (you've never had tapas if you haven't eaten here; if they want to be truly modern they have to find a way to put paella on a stick and sell it on the street corner) and its edgy night life (I'll spare you the details). Of course, this week it also is home to Mobile World Congress, formerly known as 3GSM, put on by the GSM Association. Here are a few Day 1 highlights.

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Join Us Tuesday Afternoon For InformationWeek Live

InformationWeek Live this week is all about location, location, location. GPS-enabled mobile devices can give users the information they need when and where they need it. We'll talk with three experts on location-based services about where this technology is today and where it's going.

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No Detente In Sight

VMware and Citrix have been stepping on each other's toes. A bunch. Will they meet somewhere in the middle, or are they shooting for winner takes all?

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YahooSoft or Microhoo?

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Apple Fixes Security Holes, Updates Leopard

Where last week finished up with having to patch my Firefox browser with two handfuls of security patches, Apple has released its first batch of security updates for this year. And it's a biggie.

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Hitachi Data Systems Releases De-Duping VTLs

Expanding on its existing resale arrangement with Diligent Technologies, Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) is now shipping preconfigured virtual tape libraries combining Diligent's ProtecTEIR software and HDS' AMS modular Fibre Channel disk array. Based on customer feedback that indicated customers would rather buy, and VARS would rather sell, preconfigured systems than server, software, disk storage, and the inevitable professional services separately.

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How Do Data Warehouse Appliances Fit In?

Companies now have many options when it comes to the design and implementation of a data management strategy to support business intelligence initiatives. AberdeenGroup's hypothesis is that the predominant pressure driving companies to adopt new data management strategies for BI applications is the need to reduce time-to-information for end-users... What's your opinion?

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Pleading The E-Fifth

It's probably not the career most storage professionals might have envisioned -- data forensic specialist, law enforcement agent, and archivist/go-fer. But with recent incidents that span from Detroit to Paris, here's why storage pros can expect to be more central to civil and criminal prosecutions.

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Verizon Won't Slow P2P Service "at the Current Time"

CNET News

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Business Mobility To Grow While The Rest Of IT Stays Flat?

Based on the sheer volume of press releases I have received so far from the Mobile World Congress, it seems as if they should have re-named the show Mobile World Advertising Congress. Despite the deluge of new mobile advertising networks and mobile search ad solutions, there is some business mobility news coming out of Barcelona.

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New Moves in Mobile OS Wars: Android, Linux, and Microsoft

InformationWeek, CNET News, CNET News

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Baby Boomer 'Brain Drain' Will Be A Slow Leak

Even before the first wave of baby boomers began reaching retirement age, predictions of an impending brain drain looked pretty dire. About 50% of the federal government's workforce was expected to retire over the next few years. Now, it looks like many of those people will be staying put longer.

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Following Bevy Of Patches, The Firefox Browser Is Still Vulnerable

On Friday, Feb. 8, Mozilla released an updated version of its Firefox Web browser that aimed to fix 10 vulnerabilities. Now, at least one security researcher says flaws still remain.

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Speculation About Oracle Acquisition Drives Up Salesforce.com Stock

There's a good deal of chatter in the blogosphere today about Salesforce.com supposedly shopping itself to Oracle. Time will tell if anything comes of it, but back in November I posted five reasons I think Oracle will eventually buy Salesforce.com.

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ComScore's Researchware: Actions Speak Louder Than Words

ComScore's Fulgoni says its software is researchware, not spyware. To focus on nomenclature is to miss the real problem with software like ComScore's. Few people would assert that ComScore has malicious intent in monitoring a user's computer activity, yet there are similarities to many types of malware. In particular, the user gets no benefit, while the software profits by the information it gets through monitoring that computer.

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PacketExchange Grabs $12 Million Investment... And CEO

Rick Mace has taken three different startups through various stages of funding. By taking the reins at PacketExchange and a new infusion of cash, he's hoping to catch the eye of content providers and companies that want to bypass the public Internet.

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Hacking The Eee PC

No piece of hardware can stay on the market for long without someone taking it apart and trying to do things the manufacturer probably never intended.  "ivc", a Norwegian hardware hacker, has been documenting the fun he's been having with Asus's Eee PC.  It's eye-opening, to say the least.

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What Will Microsoft Do With Danger?

Microsoft today said it has acquired mobile phone software developer Danger for an undisclosed sum. What does Microsoft plan to do with Danger and its popular line of Sidekick smartphones?

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Malware Getting Worse: 11 Trends To Watch

Half a million malwares (and then some) and counting -- that's McAfee Avert Labs' prediction for this year. That's a more than 50 percent jump over '07, and the scarier thing is that the prediction may be conservative.

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Is Yahoo Considering AOL Courtship?

Times of London

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Forrester Lowers IT Spending Forecast Again

Computerworld,The Wall Street Journal

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TI Taps OMAP Processor To Power Google Phone

I hate to crow, but you read it here first. In my speculative article "Inside The GPhone: What To Expect From Google's Android Alliance" published last November, I predicted that Texas Instruments' wonderfully capable OMAP would emerge as a leading processor for Google phones of all stripes. Turns out TI is poised to demonstrate just such a prototype on Monday.

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Competing on Decisions

Harvard Business Review recently hosted a two-day conference in Miami called "Think!Analytics," featuring Tom Davenport and Jeanne Harris, co-authors of the current best-seller, "Competing on Analytics."... Tom and company are starting to talk about decisions, not just analytics. Here is why that really caught my attention...

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Sony Ericsson Unleashes Windows Mobile Smartphone iPhone Competitor

Last night in Barcelona, Sony Ericsson kicked off Mobile World Congress with a bang. In the mix of new hardware is a new touchscreen Windows Mobile-powered smartphone for the North American market. It clearly looks to replicate the success of the iPhone, but for the business user.

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Nokia Cranks Out Powerful Phones

At the Nokia press conference this morning, Nokia introduced four new phones that are bursting with features. It made the N96, which I discussed on Friday, official, and brought in another N series phone and two mainstream devices. All boast big cameras, GPS and big connectivity options.

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Did The iPhone Save This Oklahoma Man From Freezing To Death?

The iPhone is a versatile device, but can it save lives? A Tulsa, Okla., man says his abuse-resistant iPhone let him call for help after he was knocked into a pond by a falling tree and left lying on the ground, freezing and wet, with a broken foot.

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Microsoft Office Live Small Business Gets Big Upgrade

In a bid to get more small busineses doing business online, Microsoft is about to make key components of its suite of online business services free -- and no longer require a credit card to get started.

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Planned Boycott Of eBay Proves Harm Of Monocultures

For the longest time, the term "monoculture" was synonymous with Microsoft. But eBay is probably another monoculture, and given the degree to which it so easily empowers businesses and individuals to engage in e-commerce, it also could be just as harmful, if not more so. Need evidence? You know it's a monoculture when, instead of switching to a competitor, an angry customer's only choice is to join other angry customers in a planned boycott.

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Storm Worm Makers Reaping Millions A Day In Profit

That's the scoop from a U.K. PC publication quoting an IBM Internet Security Systems' security expert during a debate at NetEvents Forum in Barcelona.

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What's That Song In The Macbook Air Commercial?

You can't teach cool. Fortunately for Apple, Steve Jobs needs no instruction, as he's proved once again with his company's new TV ad for the DVD-less notebook I've taken to calling the MacBook (Hot) Air.

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Yahoo! Rejects Microsoft Takeover Bid

The Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, Yahoo

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Yahoo To Reject Microsoft Offer, But Deal's Hardly Dead

The Wall Street Journal on Saturday reported that Yahoo's board will formally reject Microsoft's $44.6 billion bid to buy the company. The report says the board feels the offer "massively undervalues" Yahoo. So where does that leave the prospect of a Microhoo?

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The Work-Life Balance, Ahem, Blur

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End User Survey on Unified Communications

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On Glam Ad Network, Beauty Reigns (Bloggers Don't)

Glam Media's new online ad-placement system identifies target audiences for brand advertisers such as American Express, Bergdorf Goodman, and Neiman Marcus. Its algorithms put more value on certain types of content than others, starting with a Web site assessment that, among other things, rates content created by journalists over that generated by users and bloggers.

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Will Wright Demonstrates Spore At NASA

Below is a video of game designer Will Wright discussing his upcoming game Spore with an audience at the NASA Ames Research Center. Admittedly, this has very little to do with IT, beyond that fact that it involves computers. But it's fascinating technology and I can guarantee you that once it's released late this year, it will be sapping CPU cycles at my house. Happy Friday.

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Backup That's Off The Hook

"Unfortunately, it's a huge file and it's taking a long time," says a Verizon spokesman in this report about a database gone astray. Unfortunately, the file problem left 750,000 landline customers here in Southern California without any voice mail service for two days.

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Sellers Alarmed by eBay Plan to Hold PayPal Funds

Fortune Small Business

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Is FMC Dead?

BT has silently killed its much-hyped fixed-mobile convergence service, Fusion. Three years ago FMC was the hottest thing since sliced bread. Now its biggest champion, BT, is walking away. Is this a sign of things to come?

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Google, IBM, Microsoft Sign On to Open ID

BBC News, InformationWeek

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Life After CIO, Part 2

Not that the CIO role isn't the be-all-and-end-all, the sine qua non of executive positions. But sometimes CIOs must wonder: What's next? Where do I go from here? Studies show that the average tenure of a CIO. always alarmingly short, has increased ever so slightly. Cold comfort.

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Nokia To Launch A Windows Mobile Smartphone?

The buzz mill is in full swing today. The latest claim to run through the blogosphere this afternoon is that Nokia is in talks with Mircosoft to use Windows Mobile on some of its smartphones. Say what?

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Playing The Devil's Advocate About Microhoo

Daring Fireball's John Gruber says his gut feeling is that the Microsoft-Yahoo deal would be a disaster, but he notes that it could work out to be a triumph for Microsoft -- but only if Microsoft acts in a very, very un-Microsoftian way.

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Mac Tip: Use The Keyboard To Access Menu Selections

Here's a nifty workaround for accessing menu items in Mac applications without taking your fingers off the keyboard. The Unofficial Apple Weblog:

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Reports: Apple Sets Date For Launching iPhone SDK, Third-Party Apps

A couple of the more reliable Apple blogs are reporting that they're getting solid tips that Apple has scheduled an event for Feb. 26, where it will launch the software developer kit for the iPhone and iPod Touch, and applications including Exchange and Lotus Notes support.

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SMB IT Spending To Grow Faster Than Enterprises'

Despite fears of recession, small and midsize businesses will continue to boost IT spending in 2008, with special emphasis on software as a service (Saas).

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Yahoo To Answer Microsoft Today? Google Waits With Bated Breath

TechCrunch is citing sources that say Yahoo is prepared to answer Microsoft's takeover bid as early as today. It seems the board of directors at Yahoo were setting up a meeting for today. That meeting could decide the future and the shape of the Internet for years to come. What will Yahoo do, and what will Google's response be?

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The State of BPM: Top-Five Trends

Speaking at this week's Gartner BPM Summit, Jay Simons, VP of Marketing for BEA, presented the company's recent research results on the state of the BPM market, including a survey of 200-plus BEA customers... The results show a number of interesting trends indicating that CIOs and business leaders are focused on improving their processes... The top five trends are...

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The Power Plant In Your Pants

Scientists have developed a knee brace that captures energy from a moving knee, much like regenerative braking charges a battery in a Toyota Prius.

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PCI Web Application Security Deadline Looms

If you're a Web merchant, you're (or had better be) familiar with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, or PCI DSS. What you may not know is that this June some new rules apply.

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The Smaller Business' Tightrope Walk: The Bottom Line and Employees

Many smaller businesses celebrate their non-corporate culture in which employees are treated like family, turnover is low, and everybody is vested in making the company a success. But sometimes, the very familial nature of a smaller business can cause management to lose sight of the bottom line, with devastating consequences.

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Senate OKs Economic Stimulus Package

Inc.

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PortableApps.com, February Edition

It's been a while since I checked in to see what's new in the free and open source world of PortableApps.com.  To my delight, I found quite a bit that's both new and updated -- and if you haven't checked in with the folks at PA before, you're likely to be delighted, too.

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An Obscure Concern

I'm attending a symposium on Fair Use at Columbia Law today. Here's a 'rights' angle to consider for VMs while I listen to a eight hours of lawyer-talk.

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Redmond Readies Critical Security Patches

Redmond Channel Partner

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Nokia N96 Multimedia Computer Spotted On German Nokia Site

Someone messed up. Numerous blogs found pictures and specifications of Nokia's next darling superphone, the N96, spiritual successor of the N95, on Nokia's own German site. This phone has not been officially announced. Much of the information has since been pulled, but not before we were able to get a really good idea of what the N96 will feature.

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Report: Consumers Starting To Adopt More Advanced Phones

Last summer Over The Air reported that the vast majority of Americans get the free or el-cheap-o phone when they upgrade. Turns out the tide is changing. The word has gotten out that cell phones do more than call home to get the grocery list or gossip about you-know-who. You'll never guess which two advanced-phone makers are the winners here.

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Whitepaper Says Disk Backup Risky If Dropped

Every once in a while a vendor comes up with a catchy title for a white paper. Today, Cybernetics' "The Risk of a Disk-Only Backup Strategy: The Case for Disk and Tape" crossed my desk. Being an open-minded kind of guy, I figured I'd give it a read. After a couple of sensible pages about how hard drives fail in use and tapes on the shelf are pretty stable, it tries to prove its point with laboratory tests of how well hard drives and tapes work after being dropped. This begs the question: "Who takes their backup disks out of the RAID array and drops them?"

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Enough With The Patches Already!

I'm growing increasingly grateful for those quiet days when I can actually use my computer systems, for work or fun, rather than have to patch them. Is it really too much to ask?

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Full Nelson: Coral8ing Paris Hilton

During a recent flight from Boston to L.A., Paris Hilton was standing next to me as we all made our way to our seats. I saw her -- big glasses, platinum blonde hair, wispy frame -- but didn't make the connection until someone pointed it out later. So it may come as no surprise that I asked Coral8 whether numbers one through seven had been taken. They responded that it was just as it sounds, Coral8, as in "correlate, you idiot." Apt for a company that does complex event processing, the rarified air of correlating transaction data in motion. Paris Hilton; complex event processing. Hey, sometimes correlation is in the eye of the beholder.

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Socially Challenged

You'd think I might have taken the hint the year someone gave me Miss Manners' Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior for Christmas. But in the real world or online, I can't seem to get that whole social graces things right. Which is why I'm such a zero with social networks.

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Google Releases Collaboration-Oriented Version of Online Apps

The New York Times, InformationWeek, SiliconValley.com

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Stones And Gold Belong On Jewelry, Not Phones

There is such a thing as too much bling when it comes to luxury high-end mobile phones and Givori, an "accessorizor" specializing in mobile art, has a new collection of hand-crafted phones to prove it.

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Business Travelers Face Scrutiny of Cell Phone, Laptop Data

The Washington Post

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Flickr: The Biggest Reason Nokia Should Buy Yahoo

In my list of the top five reasons Nokia should buy Yahoo, I left out the most obvious reason of all: Flickr.

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Online Shoppers Increasingly Fed Up With Data Breaches

For anyone who needs even more evidence that security is critical to keeping online shoppers happy: read on.

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Software Model Predicts College Football Recruits' Choices

A team of researchers is using SAS Institute's statistical software to predict which college No. 1 football recruit Terrelle Pryor will choose. Earlier this week the prediction model called for him to pick Ohio State; now it's saying he'll likely choose Penn State. Michigan has dropped to his No. 3 choice. Hmm, we'll see.

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Good Tech/Bad Tech For Small Business?

We all know that some technologies are great, while others end up costing you time and money. But which is which?

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Solar Decathletes Prep For 2009 Contest

Crunches at dawn? Wind sprints on the beach? No. Try hauling photovoltaic roof panels and lifting solar inverter systems instead.

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Google Lets Enterprise Users Aim For The Cloud

Google updated the functionality of its Apps hosted productivity software to allow you to share documents with anyone who has the same e-mail domain. It hopes to spread adoption of its Apps products virally, under the radar of corporate IT. Sharing is great. But is the underground approach the best route to enterprise adoption?

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Microsoft Should Keep Yahoo Brand: IDC

InternetNews.com

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What's So Bad About Undisclosed Security Fixes?

A recent blog entry by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes raises some concern about Microsoft's documentation of security fixes for Windows Vista Service Pack 1. Microsoft has said that it will make changes to the code that could possibly close security holes, but specifics of those changes won't be documented. This seems like a very reasonable policy, and I can't see how Microsoft could do otherwise.

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When Will The Era Of Push-Button Publishing Arrive?

It seems like I've been on a quest to find easy ways to publish content to the Web since the middle part of the '90s. The toolsets I've used and the battles I've fought would make a hell of a scrapblog.

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Will MS + Yahoo = The Death of Zimbra?

One of Yahoo's acquisitions back in September '07 was Zimbra, an open source (MPL) groupware product that's garnered a reputation as a solid alternative to Microsoft Exchange.  Now, with Microsoft prepping a potential buyout of Yahoo, there's real fear in the air that Zimbra may be one of the casualties.

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EBay's Feedback Changes Are Bad News For Buyers

Whatever happened to Web 2.0 openness at eBay? That's what many sellers are wondering, now that the online auction powerhouse is killing its longtime policy of letting sellers leave bad feedback about buyers. Sure, there are abusive sellers who vindictively post bad ratings, but warts-and-all feedback is eBay's one market-policing mechanism, Now, as Ars Technica correctly puts it, eBay will have "no real feedback." Here's the deal.

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Saks CIO Retires

The high-end retailer says it will do without the position for the time being. No CIO? Say it ain't so!

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IT And Legal: Best Friends Forever

If your IT department isn't pals with legal, now's the time to strike up a friendship. Both departments must work together to produce e-mail and files related to litigation, otherwise known as e-discovery.

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Dell Simplifies Support for Small Business

Small Business Computing

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Big Blue's BI in a Box

With IBM's acquisition of Cognos completed last week, the merged companies were quick to tout their joint product offerings and future plans at a press and analyst conference yesterday. Given IBM's role as both a data warehouse platform and a services power house, the acquisition clearly impacts existing partnerships in which IBM moves from partner to competitor. The question in this new landscape: who wins, who loses?

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Spam Across The Waters: Europe Grabs Junkmail Lead

This month's Symantec Spam Report brings some interesting -- and surprising -- information about the nature of the spam that clogs our queues and pipelines. Spam filesize is shrinking and more of it's coming from Europe than anywhere else.

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HP Adds Resiliency Features to its Storage Systems

Storage systems have become a vital component supporting many small and medium businesses mission critical applications. To help ensure application availability, vendors have begun delivering Fortune 500 redundancy capabilities at reasonable prices.

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Voce, MVNO To The Elite, Abruptly Goes Offline

The last 12 months have seen the death of many an MVNO. None of the flame-outs have had the same, dark, seedy, Hollywood noir endings that Voce's did. It started when Roy Kosuge, COO of Voce, got out of bed last Friday morning. Upon checking his cell phone, he found out it, along with his company, was dead. (Queue dramatic '50s movie score.) Voce treated its premium customers to a premium "buh-bye".

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700-MHz Showdown: Who Has The Highest Bid For The C Block? Google Or Verizon?

The rules governing the FCC 700-MHz auction prevent anyone -- even the bidders -- from knowing the identities of the other bidders. Late last week, the C block surpassed its reserve price with a bid of $4.71 billion. And there it sat for nearly a week. Then, someone sneaked in a bid for $4.75 billion. Was it Google, or Verizon?

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Time-Shares, Magic, And A Real World Tale

I just got back from a short-term consulting gig in the mid-Atlantic region. The local IT team had heard of virtualization. Maybe.

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Holographic Data Storage -- Too Kewl For School?

Two events in the past few weeks drew my attention back to holographic data storage. InPhase Technologies announced it raised $20 million in a D round of financing. Its Tapestry 300 GB disk and drive has been about a year away for about 18 months. Now, development delays are nothing new in technology development, ask Microsoft about just about any version of Windows, and Turner Broadcasting has been using the InPhase drives in a pilot for a while, so it probably will ship it eventually.

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Total Cost Of Lead Generation

I know at least four vendors who'd be more than willing to help you calculate it, but does anyone really know the total cost of ownership (TCO) of their storage? Too often, these calculations have about the same gravitas as when someone starts describing what they're worth "on paper."

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The Top 5 Reasons Nokia Should Bid On Yahoo

The entire tech universe is obsessed with Microsoft's attempt to take over Yahoo. The market has been waiting for this move for the last year, so most of the "analysis" coming from bloggers and industry pundits is well-rehearsed and polished, but hardly thought-provoking. Instead of rehashing this debate, I want to start another one: Why isn't Nokia bidding for Yahoo?

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Free Encryption For All

Sure, you can keep your files secure with BitLocker, available for certain versions of Vista. And Mac users have FileVault, which is free with Mac OS X. Personally, I like TrueCrypt. Here's why.

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Europe: For All Your Spam Needs

Europe has been taking the lead in several areas of technology lately. The European Space Agency (ESA) will be the first to send an unmanned cargo ship to the international space station. London will be Europe's first city to get A380 Airbus service. Now Europe claims another 'accolade' -- Symantec says it's responsible for most of the spam sent worldwide. I guess two outta three ain't bad.

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SMB SANs from HP Suitable for Virtualization

The Register, FoxBusiness

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Racy Text Messages Turn Detroit Into LOLing Stock :(

My, oh my, what a mess in Detroit. Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick faces a financial audit, an investigation into potential perjury, maybe an investigation into criminal fraud. The evidence? Smoking text messages.

Continue reading "Racy Text Messages Turn Detroit Into LOLing Stock :(..."

Study: Quality Of Mobile Phone Calls Stinks

Snap, crackle, pop. You remember those words from Rice Krispies commercials, right? Well, turns out they apply to calls made from cell phones as well. A new study said that nearly 40% of calls fall below industry minimum standards for voice quality. Is anyone surprised? I hear pins dropping...

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With HTC Shift, Intel's UMPC Is Finally Real

I was going to call this post "Intel Finally Pushes Past The PC Processor," in recognition of the fact that this is the first time I can remember when a blue sky concept for a new-fangled computing device has moved beyond the bloviating stage and into the real world. But that's sure the case with Intel's Ultramobile PC. Hot little items like the HTC Shift are making their way to market, and lots more are on the way. Hey, I want one!

Continue reading "With HTC Shift, Intel's UMPC Is Finally Real..."

AT&T; To Expand 3G Network Cross-Country

PR Newswire

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Super Bowl Lesson for Smaller Businesses: Marketing on the Internet Works

The Super Bowl is long over -- although for those of us in New England, the heartache lingers -- but the staying power of many of its commercials on the Internet should be a powerful message for smaller businesses.

Continue reading "Super Bowl Lesson for Smaller Businesses: Marketing on the Internet Works..."

Vista SP1 Fixes Slow File Copies--Here's Why

One of the first things I noticed when setting up Vista for the first time was that file copies seemed to be slower. Plenty of other people noticed it, too. This week, Mark Russinovich put together a blog entry with details about how this Vista "improvement" went awry.

Continue reading "Vista SP1 Fixes Slow File Copies--Here's Why..."

National Intelligence Director: Cyber Risks Rising

The news provided by the director of national intelligence, Mike McConnell, to a Senate panel yesterday wasn't all good. While Al-Qaida is weakening in Iraq, it's spreading its tentacles elsewhere. That includes the critical IT infrastructure. Part of his testimony included warnings that the threat of cyberattacks are increasing from terror groups, homegrown militants, and nations.

Continue reading "National Intelligence Director: Cyber Risks Rising..."

What Happens When You 'Google' Google?

Just for the heck of it, I performed a Google search for Google. The search generated 1.83 billion results. The top result was a current news item about the brewing war between Google and Microsoft. To me, the most surprising thing was the lack of sponsored ads next to the search results. The only one was from Google itself, suggesting you make Google your home page.

Continue reading "What Happens When You 'Google' Google?..."

Clickability Clicks On All Cylinders

Are these guys the Salesforce.com of Web content management? To help you decide, I caught up with Clickability's CEO John Girard and Robert Carroll, its newly appointed head of marketing, to hear how it plans to reshape the Web content management landscape.

Continue reading "Clickability Clicks On All Cylinders..."

Why Vista Is Not 'The Best Argument For Linux'

I've seen a number of people argue that Windows Vista, in all of its bloat and cost and lateness to market, is the best argument for switching to Linux.  It's tempting, and there's a lot of truth to it, but at the same time I don't think it's a good idea to define yourself by what you're not.

Continue reading "Why Vista Is Not 'The Best Argument For Linux'..."

Remote Worker Worries: On The Road With Their Guards Down

A couple of items recently caught by the bMighty ANTenna ought to have your own security antennae twitching at full alert. The combination of remote workers and more powerful mobile devices could be setting up a perfect storm of security woes.

Continue reading "Remote Worker Worries: On The Road With Their Guards Down..."

Poor Mobile Voice Quality? Don't Blame Your Carrier

Computerworld

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Study: Cell Phones Don't Cause Brain Cancer

A new study coming from Japan says that holding a cell phone to your head and gabbing all day long will not increase your risk of brain cancer. It may, however, increase your risk of becoming a social outcast, getting into car accidents, and walking into a light post.

Continue reading "Study: Cell Phones Don't Cause Brain Cancer..."

Gartner BPM Summit: Opening Keynote

I'm here in Vegas for Gartner's 5th BPM summit, and they're reporting about 1,000 attendees (though I'm not sure if that includes Gartner and vendors)... Analyst Janelle Hill gave us Gartner's big-picture view of BPM, and she seems to be hitting her stride as Gartner's face of BPM since Jim Sinur left... Her view of how BPM might change with any coming recession matches most views I've heard and agree with...

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Virtual Machines, Real Dollars

VMware's stock price might have tumbled, but that isn't stopping VC investment in the virtualization space. Two startups raked in millions this week.

Continue reading "Virtual Machines, Real Dollars..."

VKernel Gets a Little VC Love, Too

We've written about VKernel before; the young New Hampshire startup produces virtual appliances for VMware. It looks like the Nashua-based folks have something to be happy about after the Pats loss on Sunday - they've picked up $4.6M in VC funding.

Continue reading "VKernel Gets a Little VC Love, Too..."

Electronic Voting Systems Go Unattended

It's been nearly eight years since the 2000 election fiasco, and it seems with every election, the complaints of failing voting systems only seem to mount.

Continue reading "Electronic Voting Systems Go Unattended..."

Just in Time For 'Hannah Montana'

I'm not a reflexive technophobe or a Chomsky-quoting art school washout (more of a Sam Kinison plagiarist here, minus the beret). But it still beats the pants off me why anybody would want to watch a movie on a device smaller than a laptop. My inability to comprehend isn't stopping Apple from adding memory to its consumer goods.

Continue reading "Just in Time For 'Hannah Montana'..."

Remote Workers Becoming Less Security-Conscious

DarkReading

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The CIO Skill Set: Is IT A Horizontal Expertise?

Do the skills of a CIO translate over various industries? Or should technology people look to specialize in certain vertical areas to increase their effectiveness?

Continue reading "The CIO Skill Set: Is IT A Horizontal Expertise?..."

Faster, Cheaper Mobile Memory on the Horizon

Technology Review, IntoMobile

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Liquid Computing Board Ousts CEO Hurley

Brian Hurley, co-founder of "fabric computing" vendor Liquid Computing and, until a few days ago, its CEO, has been shown the exit. In his place steps Greg McElheran from investor Axis Capital. The abrupt change hasn't been publicly announced.

Continue reading "Liquid Computing Board Ousts CEO Hurley..."

Fear And Voting -- Online

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Gartner Shakes Open Source's 8 Ball

In a press release dated Jan. 31, research firm Gartner made a number of predictions about the IT marketplace in two to four years.  One of the eye-openers: By 2012, they claim, "80% of all commercial software will include elements of open source technology."  Wacky?  Exaggerated?  Probably not.

Continue reading "Gartner Shakes Open Source's 8 Ball..."

Learn About SOA And Virtualization Later Today At InformationWeek Live

Join us at 3 p.m. Eastern time today when we'll be talking with my colleague, senior editor Andy Dornan, about virtualization and service-oriented architecture at the official launch of InformationWeek Live.

Continue reading "Learn About SOA And Virtualization Later Today At InformationWeek Live..."

Gartner 2008 BI Magic Quadrant Plays it Safe

Gartner late last week issued its 2008 Quadrant for Business Intelligence Platforms in which it placed five companies roughly on a par in the prized upper-right quadrant: Business Objects, Cognos, Oracle, SAS and Microsoft. As you'll see when you download the report, none of the top five seem to stand out; you could draw a straight line from SAS, on the "Completeness of Vision" axis, to Microsoft on the "Ability to Execute" axis and touch all five vendors.

Continue reading "Gartner 2008 BI Magic Quadrant Plays it Safe..."

Apple Updates iPhone And iPod Touch; People Start Complaining

Apple just can't make anyone happy any more. Forget the idea that the Mac Faithful might be all excited that Apple just doubled the storage capacity of its iPhone and iPod Touch -- albeit for an extra $100. Instead of cheering, user forums are full of whiny moaners who think Apple is out to screw them.

Continue reading "Apple Updates iPhone And iPod Touch; People Start Complaining..."

Google Bolsters E-mail Security

InformationWeek

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Here's What The Google Phone Could Look Like

Speculation about how the GPhone is shaping up has taken a temporary back seat to the chatter about Google's efforts to throw a monkey wrench into Microsoft's bid for Yahoo. But what developers are doing with the Android SDK, released last fall to inspire the flowering of a thousand independent Google Phones, is actually much more interesting. Now there's some stuff to look at, too.

Continue reading "Here's What The Google Phone Could Look Like..."

Twice as much Mac market share by 2011?

In three years, says influential analyst firm Gartner, Apple will double its U.S. and Western Europe market share for desktop computers.

Continue reading "Twice as much Mac market share by 2011?..."

Internet Voting: Bad Or Good Idea?

It's Super Tuesday, perhaps the most critical day for the presidential election until the general elections this fall. And some voters abroad will have the option to cast their ballot online. That's online, as in over the Internet. Are we really ready for this?

Continue reading "Internet Voting: Bad Or Good Idea?..."

Dell Says No Thanks To Notion Of Buying Motorola's Mobile Unit

Dell CEO Michael Dell said that his company is "more focused on the computer business" and not so focused on mobile phones. In other words, Dell doesn't want to touch Motorola with a ten-foot pole. But who would be interested in Motorola?

Continue reading "Dell Says No Thanks To Notion Of Buying Motorola's Mobile Unit..."

One Last Prediction: Open Source is Going Mainstream

Research firm Gartner made a bunch of tech predictions that IT folks should be aware of, and get ready for. Among the most interesting one: Open source is hitting the big time.

Continue reading "One Last Prediction: Open Source is Going Mainstream..."

Full Nelson: Agito's FMC On TechWeb TV

Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC) is anything but fixed these days, although several pieces are coming together. Nokia has several dual mode handsets, for example. Carriers like T-Mobile and BT are rolling out new services. Most of the activity has been aimed at the consumer, and while that isn't an unlikely target, FMC promised to be a key component for the truly mobile enterprise worker. Agito Networks hopes to provide some answers on the infrastructure side.

Continue reading "Full Nelson: Agito's FMC On TechWeb TV..."

Apple's Mac Ripe for Attack: Study

MacNewsWorld, ChannelWeb

Continue reading "Apple's Mac Ripe for Attack: Study..."

SaaS Leadership Hinges on Microsoft's Yahoo Bid

I guess I could point to all of the press releases and blog posts about Microsoft's $44 billion Yahoo bid, but there are thousands at this point and you already know what's going on... A core issue here is ownership of the SaaS marketplace, a clear direction for all of the major players and thus the driving force behind the current land grab, and this deal.

Continue reading "SaaS Leadership Hinges on Microsoft's Yahoo Bid..."

Source: Yahoo Talking To Google To Fend Off Microsoft

According to a Reuters report, Yahoo said it would consider joining forces with Google in order to prevent Microsoft from acquiring it. What sort of partnership could it strike with Google that would hold Microsoft at bay while not triggering antitrust issues? Oh, and Yahoo says $31 per share isn't good enough.

Continue reading "Source: Yahoo Talking To Google To Fend Off Microsoft..."

Dell Forges into iSCSI Terrain

Data here, data there, data, data everywhere, that has become the mantra in many small and medium businesses. Consequently, trying to manage their data storage systems has moved up the ladder of management concerns, something Dell tried to address.

Continue reading "Dell Forges into iSCSI Terrain..."

Dell Looks To iSCSI To Restore Former Luster

The merger of Dell's manufacturing know-how and EqualLogic's innovation were supposed to result in all sorts of storage goodies when Dell acquired the company late last year. Now, if the combined assets could just fix the rest of what's ailing Dell.

Continue reading "Dell Looks To iSCSI To Restore Former Luster..."

New Botnet Army On The March

There's a new botnet (a network of malicious nodes, known as "bots") gaining strength, and it's successfully infiltrating U.S. companies by bypassing traditional antivirus products.

Continue reading "New Botnet Army On The March..."

Microsoft, Yahoo, And OpenID

Now that it seems highly likely that Microsoft will acquire Yahoo (unless News Corp., or even Apple, start a bidding war), what will the impact be on OpenID -- if any?

Continue reading "Microsoft, Yahoo, And OpenID..."

Google's Answer To MicroHoo: Buy Adobe

Moments before being ravished at the hands of Microsoft, Yahoo will have the opportunity to throw its bouquet to the bridesmaids. By tradition, the recipient of this parting shot is next in line for a merger. If Yahoo wants to exact some measure of revenge on its unsolicited suitor, it will aim for the lovely Adobe.

Continue reading "Google's Answer To MicroHoo: Buy Adobe..."

Vista SP1, Windows Server 2008 Ready to Go

Information Week, Information Week

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At DEMO, Glitches, Frayed Nerves, And A Sucking Sound

Seventy-seven companies took the stage at last week's Demo conference in hopes of impressing the world with their innovative products. They got six minutes to do it, at a cost of $3,000 per minute. Not everyone pulled it off flawlessly.

Continue reading "At DEMO, Glitches, Frayed Nerves, And A Sucking Sound..."

Google, Others May Come to Yahoo's Rescue

Wall Street Journal, Reuters

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It's Super Tuesday: Vote Early, Vote Often!

Among other things, this election could have a profound effect on the technology industry and the prospects of small and midsize businesses. It's up to you who you vote for, but please, if you live in a Super Tuesday state, please make sure to vote.

Continue reading "It's Super Tuesday: Vote Early, Vote Often!..."

Desktop Video Conferencing Offers Two Surprising Benefits

Continue reading "Desktop Video Conferencing Offers Two Surprising Benefits..."

A Greener Bowl Game? Super

What else ya got? Super Bowl XLII (double extra large!) will be remembered for the stunning outcome on the field (Giants 17 - Patriots 14), not for the NFL's environmental efforts off-field.

Continue reading "A Greener Bowl Game? Super..."

Join Us Later Today For The Kick-Off Of The Brand-New InformationWeek Live

We're a little more than an hour away from launching our new series of events: InformationWeek Live, a real-time podcast featuring InformationWeek editors and top guests. Today's netcast is primarily a tech rehearsal, but a few of us editors will be there sharing perspective on the top headlines of the day.

Continue reading "Join Us Later Today For The Kick-Off Of The Brand-New InformationWeek Live..."

Motorola's Viral Mobile World Congress Teaser Ad Misses The Mark

A PR company based in England fired off an e-mail to all us press types attending the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next week. Embedded in the e-mail is a YouTube link. The video we're treated to is supposed to get us stoked about Motorola's up and coming phones. Instead, it leaves us with the impression that Motorola still thinks it's 2006.

Continue reading "Motorola's Viral Mobile World Congress Teaser Ad Misses The Mark..."

nLite And vLite Can Lighten Windows, But Sometimes Too Much

Einstein supposedly said, "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler." With the release of vLite, Vista users have a chance to try their hand at achieving Einstein's ideal. My experience with the XP version, nLite, has been that it's often hard to determine what constitutes simplicity -- and when to stop simplifying.

Continue reading "nLite And vLite Can Lighten Windows, But Sometimes Too Much..."

Intel Intros Silverthorne Ultramobile Chip

EETimes, Computerworld

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Google Fires Back At Microsoft

InformationWeek, Computerworld

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Samsung Releases Symbian-Based N95 Killer

Not to be outdone by competitor Nokia, Samsung has finally dropped a high-end media phone into the market to challenge the N95's worldwide supremacy. Samsung will be showing off the new hardware at Mobile World Congress next week in Barcelona, but we already have a nice rundown of the specs.

Continue reading "Samsung Releases Symbian-Based N95 Killer..."

What's Microsoft Really Buying With Yahoo?

It's a tough question, isn't it?  Is Microsoft buying Yahoo because of its long-term and broadscale expertise with open source?  If so, to what end?  Well, I thought, maybe what they're really buying is the expertise of the Yahoo programming team, akin to what I felt was happening with Sun and MySQL, et al.  Unfortunately, the theory doesn't seem to work here.

Continue reading "What's Microsoft Really Buying With Yahoo?..."

A Tale of Two Economies

The signs are familiar and worrying: a US economy that cannot seem to rebound, job losses on the rise, and consumers getting increasingly jittery. Will US companies, in a desperate bid to cut costs, intensify their push to send work offshore? Not so fast.

Continue reading "A Tale of Two Economies..."

SaaS Trendwatching With Clickability

It seems like everything has the "as-a-service" connotation these days. Software-as-a-service, infrastructure-as-a-service, even innovation-as-a-service. Actually, the newest one I saw come out of Demo 08 was insight-as-a-service, brought to you by the friendly folks at Silobreaker.

Continue reading "SaaS Trendwatching With Clickability..."

Yahoo Users Will Be Losers If Microsoft Gets Its Way

Yahoo users should be none too happy about Microsoft's $44.6 billion hostile bid, because they're likely to come out in last place if the deal goes through. Yahoo's services are completely alien and antithetical to Microsoft culture and technology, and acquisitions are virtually always bad news for the customers and users of the company being acquired.

Continue reading "Yahoo Users Will Be Losers If Microsoft Gets Its Way..."

Windows Vista: Top 20 Stories From Year One

Windows Vista celebrated its first birthday last week. In lieu of cake and candles, I've put together a list of some of the more memorable stories from the Microsoft OS's rather bumpy first year on the market.

Continue reading "Windows Vista: Top 20 Stories From Year One..."

Google, Microsoft Trade Jabs Over Yahoo

Google issued a statement speaking out against the proposed Microsoft acquisition of Yahoo over the weekend, citing antitrust and competitive concerns. Later, Microsoft fired back, saying that a combined Microsoft/Yahoo could serve as a better, stronger Number Two in the market to Google's Number One. Nice of Microsoft to admit that Google has the superior position. But is Google quaking in its boots?

Continue reading "Google, Microsoft Trade Jabs Over Yahoo..."

Rating The Super Bowl Commercials

As always, the real contest at the Super Bowl was among the commercials. (Admittedly, the game, in which the Giant upset the Patriots 17 - 14, was exciting, too.) On Fox, there were some 50 ads, which went for upwards of $2.7 million for each 30-second spot. Based on the preponderance of beer ads, it must be an American truism that you can never be too rich or have too much Bud Light.

Continue reading "Rating The Super Bowl Commercials..."

Backup MX - It's The Least You Can Do

When I ask organizations to list their mission critical applications, e-mail is always on the list. While organizations are investing in all sorts of high-availability solutions for their e-mail servers, I'm amazed at how often they skip the inexpensive steps that will insure that legit e-mail doesn't get bounced if the e-mail server is down. When your mail server, or Internet connection, is down, a backup MX, or mail exchange, server will accept mail for your domain and forward it automatically to your mail server when it comes back on line.

Continue reading "Backup MX - It's The Least You Can Do..."

New 'Evil Finder' Appliance Thwarts Bank Heist

Mandiant, a consulting and software company that specializes in uncovering data breaches and fraud, last week introduced Intelligent Response, an appliance for incident response and analysis. As they left the stage at last week's Demo conference, Mandiant officials said the device had just been used to "stop a bank robbery."

Continue reading "New 'Evil Finder' Appliance Thwarts Bank Heist..."

Super Bowl. Robo Security.

While the Department of Homeland Security says there are no specific terror threats regarding Super Bowl XLII, security is being taken seriously at the game, where the New England Patriots will face off against the New York Giants.

Continue reading "Super Bowl. Robo Security...."

D'oh! -- I Should Have Made A Backup #2

In our last installment, a disgruntled employee deleted files from the computers at the small office where she worked. Her boss should have known better, but we don't expect Florida architects to be IT mavens. In episode 2, cable TV operator Charter Communications, whose chairman and largest stockholder is none other than Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, accidentially deleted 14,000 e-mail accounts and their contents.

Continue reading "D'oh! -- I Should Have Made A Backup #2..."

The Rigidity Trap Applies to PowerPoint, Dashboards Alike

Curt Monash shares my disdain for PowerPoint: not the software per se but rather the rigid communication dysstyle it encourages. Seeming solutions such as pecha-kucha pick up the pace. You "say what you need to say and then sit the hell down." On the other hand, you're still locked in that rigid PowerPoint sequence. Faster, simpler presentations aren't necessarily better presentations. The same principle applies to communicating analytical results.

Continue reading "The Rigidity Trap Applies to PowerPoint, Dashboards Alike..."

Follow The New Money

VMware may be cold at the moment, but VCs are saying virtualization is still hot.

Continue reading "Follow The New Money..."

Economy To Test Storage Vendors' Durability

Is the U.S. economy in a recession? With the Fed cutting interest rates like a tailor on speed, a streaky stock market, and no good news on the employment front, it's safe to say we're at least hip-deep in a contracting economy. And decent financial results from EMC, HP, and others have led some to conclude storage is recession-proof. That may be true, but here's why we'll know a lot better in 60 days.

Continue reading "Economy To Test Storage Vendors' Durability..."

What "Microhoo" means for Smaller Companies

Should small and midsize companies fear a Microsoft takeover of Yahoo? Or welcome it? That depends on how you feel about Google. And how the deal plays out.

Continue reading "What "Microhoo" means for Smaller Companies..."

Apple vs. PC Battle Rages On Several Fronts

The Intel chip that powers the MacBook Air will soon be available on Windows notebooks, while Apple launhces a new site to help folks switch from PCs.

Continue reading "Apple vs. PC Battle Rages On Several Fronts..."

Wireless Technologies Of The Future: RFID And Navigation?

Yesterday I got the chance to attend an event in New York City, hosted by ABI Research. The firm put together a few panels on important trends in mobile and wireless, and I found RFID and navigation to be particularly interesting.

Continue reading "Wireless Technologies Of The Future: RFID And Navigation?..."

Forget Terrorists. Watch Out For Backhoes

Terrorists may represent some danger to power plants, but human carelessness is far more likely to damage critical infrastructure. Given the events of the past few days, it's hard to believe that al-Qaida would even bother plotting to take down the Internet or a power station when everyday bumbling does the job for them.

Continue reading "Forget Terrorists. Watch Out For Backhoes..."

The Burden Of Expectations

Gartner's latest survey of CIOs and their priorities has good news and bad news, and they're both the same news: Expectations for IT as a business innovator are up. It reminds me of that old adage: Be careful what you wish for.

Continue reading "The Burden Of Expectations..."

Microsoft, Motorola Weigh Desperate Measures

Two massive deals that have been talked about for some time got a bit closer to reality today, as Microsoft went public with its $44 billion bid for Yahoo and Motorola said it may spin off its handset division.

Continue reading "Microsoft, Motorola Weigh Desperate Measures..."

If Microsoft And Yahoo Unite, What Will Become Of Windows Mobile?

On the surface, Microsoft and Yahoo have divergent mobile businesses. Microsoft develops and licenses Windows Mobile and associated software to OEMs, which use it to create smartphones. Yahoo has Web services and content optimized for consumption on mobile phones. Is pairing Microsoft with Yahoo (MicroHoo, anyone?) the best way for both companies to create the best mobile platform and services available?

Continue reading "If Microsoft And Yahoo Unite, What Will Become Of Windows Mobile?..."

Click Fraud Continues Climb

Are you paying for clicks? Then you should be aware that last year's growth in fake clicks (that advertisers still have to pay for) set a scary 15 percent pace.

Continue reading "Click Fraud Continues Climb..."

Web 2.0 Security, Microsoft, And Yahoo

People always seem to talk about how important application security is to them. But rarely do we --as consumers of technology -- have a chance to have a profound impact on the quality and security of software applications and services. But with Microsoft's pending acquisition of Yahoo, a new opportunity arises.

Continue reading "Web 2.0 Security, Microsoft, And Yahoo..."

Microsoft Makes Play For Yahoo

InformationWeek, The New York Times

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Microsoft/Yahoo Combo Is Bad News for Web 2.0, Open Source

Microsoft's bid for Yahoo is certain to shake up the online advertising, Web 2.0 and open-source markets... Yahoo has released tons of code via their developer programs and pushed some really innovative services aimed at Web developers... I'd expect less open source support out of them for a start... Here are some specific quotes from Microsoft's offer worth highlighting.

Continue reading "Microsoft/Yahoo Combo Is Bad News for Web 2.0, Open Source..."

Spyware Evolving, Becoming Sneakier

Dark Reading

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Microsoft Dynamics CRM Coming to a City Near You

eChannelLine

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State Of The (Green) Union, Part 1

In his final State of the Union speech Monday, President Bush outlined his goals for building a future of energy security. It's predicated on a move toward cleaner coal and building up our capacity to generate nuclear power. Here's what we're aiming at.

Continue reading "State Of The (Green) Union, Part 1..."

Lessons Learned from SocGen: Every Employee Matters

By now nearly everyone has heard about the rogue trader at SocGen, one of France's largest banks, who managed to cause the bank to lose an astonishing $7.2 billion. But as the details of the case emerge, the lessons learned from the incident apply to all businesses, even smaller ones.

Continue reading "Lessons Learned from SocGen: Every Employee Matters..."

Google Execs Made 20-Year Commitment To Each Other

Ah, the heady pre-IPO heydays of summer 2004. In July of that year, co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, together with CEO Eric Schmidt, must have been feeling pretty bullish on Google's long-term future. The three agreed to work together for the next 20 years, to have and to hold, in sickness and health, good times and bad, for better or worse. Will this business marriage last?

Continue reading "Google Execs Made 20-Year Commitment To Each Other..."

Join Us Monday And Tuesday For The Brand-New InformationWeek Live

Join us Monday and Tuesday when we're launching a new series of events: InformationWeek Live, a real-time podcast featuring InformationWeek editors and top guests. You'll be able to listen in to a Q&A as it happens on the most important technology issues, discuss the conversation in text chat, and ask your own questions.

Continue reading "Join Us Monday And Tuesday For The Brand-New InformationWeek Live..."

Microsoft Can Buy Yahoo, But They Can't Afford Yahoo

Microsoft has decided that it's time to get serious about this Internet stuff, so their bold move is to -- buy Yahoo? I don't get it. If I were a Yahoo stockholder I might play hard to get for a while, but nearly all of them will want this deal to happen because it's probably the most profitable end for them. For Microsoft, not so much.

Continue reading "Microsoft Can Buy Yahoo, But They Can't Afford Yahoo..."

Ericsson Said It Will Consider Purchasing Motorola Assets

Ericsson CEO Carl-Henric Svanberg said that the company would seriously think about scooping up Motorola's handset division if indeed Motorola puts it up for sale. He noted, though, that Ericsson would be "very cautious" about approaching any deal.

Continue reading "Ericsson Said It Will Consider Purchasing Motorola Assets..."

Why Microsoft's Yahoo Bid Helps Google, IBM, And Apple

A combined Microsoft and Yahoo would be a company truly capable of challenging Google in search and online advertising. At least that's what Microsoft believes. Not so fast.

Continue reading "Why Microsoft's Yahoo Bid Helps Google, IBM, And Apple..."

To Sink Or Swim In Linux's Waters?

I've been running Ubuntu Linux on my notebook, a Sony VAIO TX model, for some time now.  I'm impressed with how stable it's been and how a whole raft of features like action-key support (for things like dimming the display) are available directly out of the box, without having to install additional stuff that I needed to download from Sony's site.  But because getting used to Linux itself can be jarring for Windows folks, I decided not to just dive in and hope I'm able to swim.  Instead, I'm using a gradual approach: I take it to bed with me.

Continue reading "To Sink Or Swim In Linux's Waters?..."

WatchGuard Boosts Security for UTM Appliances

ChannelWeb

Continue reading "WatchGuard Boosts Security for UTM Appliances..."

My Life On A Stick

Ok, so I have come to the realization that my memory isn’t quite what it used to be. My wife came to this realization a decade ago, but that is a topic for another day and another blog for that matter. I used to have an uncanny knack for storage and retrieval of both professional and personal data using just my brain.

Continue reading "My Life On A Stick..."

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