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Those of us immersed in CRM take it for granted that people understand what the acronym stands for and what it really means -- the technology, people and processes that go into building stronger relationships with customers, or customer relationship management. Quite naturally, the people who sell, support and comment on CRM understand all of that. But do the intended users?...

Microsoft will soon release the source code and binaries for a Windows 7 tool that was recently found to contain code licensed under the GNU General Public License The tool in question is the company's free Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool, which enables consumers to create bootable USB drives or DVD backup media from the electronic software edition...

Well, it's November again -- which means that it's just about time for this year's set of New Year's predictions. Every year around this time, everyone from antimalware companies to analyst firms line up to tell us about the top IT and security trends -- what they are and why we should care. This year, chances are they'll tell us all about cloud computing, virtualization and social networking and why these technologies are the new best (or worst) friends for security folks in 2010. ...

Palm had its hands full over the weekend. The company's Sunday launch of its new US$99 Pixi smartphone had to compete with fresh rumors begun Friday that the company was a possible target of a takeover by Finnish telecommunications giant Nokia Those rumors sent Palm stock soaring by 8 percent on Friday, although Monday's trading was back within nor...

Windows 7, which was publicly released Oct. 22, has been hit by at least two security flaws. One of these lets hackers execute code remotely; the other lets them trigger an infinite loop remotely, causing a kernel crash.

The Android army gained yet another recruit Monday with the release of Samsung's Galaxy Spica phone in Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), or former Soviet republics Equipped with an 800 MHz application processor and DivX support, the new device -- also known as the "I5700" -- reportedly runs Android 1.5, or "Cupcake."

Network forensics is the capture, storage and analysis of network traffic. You might also hear the term referred to as "packet mining," "packet forensics," or "digital forensics." Regardless of the name, the concept is the same, with the objective to record every packet and the data it contains moving across the network and storing it for some period of time.

United Airlines was my Internet destination this week, as I continued samplingtravel-planning Web sites for the E-Commerce Times The first item to catch my eye was an unusual graphic. It was neither a 1) plane 2) automobile 3) hotel nor 4) iconic celebrity hawker.Instead it was a stylized drawing of a woman's outstretched leg with a big bow on her ...

It's understood by marketers that one of the most important ways they can differentiate their offerings in today's unique selling environment is by creating a remarkable customer experience. One step toward achieving this goal is to ensure they have a single database that is tightly integrated with their CRM system to capture inbound and outbound dialogue and create a multidimensional marketing view of the customer.

We seem to be surrounded by conflict; sometimes it seems peace is harder to make than war. There were two big events in tech last week: HP picked up 3Com, the company that first dominated the network space, as a major shot across Cisco's bow. Also the major legal battle of the decade, between AMD and Intel, came to an end. This market is defined...

Less than 20 days until Cyber Monday. You've got staffing queued up. Your warehouse is full. Your shipper is standing by. But have you considered what will happen on your Web site after a flood of qualified buyers click on the irresistible and precisely worded ad for your product or service? Now (not then) is the time to find out if your Web site can take the heat that Cyber Monday will dish out...

Google will release its Chrome operating system for download within a week, according to a report in the blog TechCrunch, which sited an unnamed source Launching the OS as soon as possible makes sense, said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group. "I would expect the Chrome OS will show up shortly because they need the ecosystem ready b...

Google's purchase of VoIP company Gizmo5, announced Thursday, accomplishes two things for the search giant: It brings new levels of potential business-class service to Google Voice, and it gives AT&T ammunition in its regulatory fight with Mountain View Google isn't providing much detail regarding how Gizmo5's technology will fit into Voice. "While...

Intel and AMD have finally put a long and bitter disagreement to bed, and in the end, all it took was a little open communication and understanding, along with one and a quarter billion dollars. The two have been at it for years -- accusations, threats, lawsuits. AMD said Intel engaged in anticompetitive behavior; Intel said AMD broke its licensing agreements...

After months of rumors, Dell has confirmed its intention to become a major player in the smartphone sector, announcing partnerships with China Mobile and Brazil-basedClaro, which is part of the America Movil network. This is not a regional or emerging market strategy on the part of Dell. "We plan to announce agreements with carriers in other marke...

In a previous column, I described why many IT professionals within small- and medium-sized businesses, as well as in large-scale enterprises, are beginning to embrace Software as a Service, and why managed service providers (MSPs) can't afford to ignore SaaS. I recently attended an industry event that brought my previous observations to life and a...

Part 1 of this two-part series discusses the failure of the financial services industy to take full advantage of CRM and explains why it could now be at a turning point The market for CRM programs will expand in financial services, although the pace of spending will likely slow down in the near term. Still, the rate of CRM spending by financial fir...

Canonical's Ubuntu 9.10,otherwise known as "Karmic Koala," could be for the Linux communitywhat the recently released Windows 7 OS from Microsoft is to theWindows world. Of course, this latest release that replaced Ubuntu9.04 did not have as much to do in bettering its predecessor as didWindows 7 had in overcoming Vista Still, no operating system ...

There's a very good reason why we call Internet memes and themes "viral." Good and bad information spreads on the Web in much the same way those nasty bundles of nucleic acid and proteins do when they attack your body's cells and make you sick Some of the Internet news items I've seen related to the H1N1 swine flu virus are making me feel a little ...

On Wednesday, Microsoft announced it's teaming up with answer engine Wolfram Alpha to beef up its Bing search engine. This will give Bing users access to Wolfram Alpha's algorithms and curated data.