Articles by

Let's face facts: It's a hard economy right now. For those of us in the security business, a down economy hits us harder than most other areas of the business. Not only does our budget wallow in the doldrums just like other areas, but at the same time that we're stuck with less funding, the overall risk increases as well. It works like this: Less...

Networking giant Cisco Systems unveiled a slew of new products and services Monday that promise to simplify, consolidate and lower the cost of running vast computer networks at large businesses The new products and services fall under an initiative Cisco calls the "Unified Computing System," which unites computing, networking, storage access and vi...

Intel's and Advanced Micro Devices' often-rocky relationship is teetering on the brink of open warfare. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Intel has accused AMD of breaching terms the two companies forged in a cross-licensing agreement dating back to 2001 Intel has charged AMD with violating the agreement by forming Globalfoun...

Part 1 of this two-part series examined what it takes to be a professional game designer. Part two takes a look at other career paths in game creation and how to start It takes a village to make a video game. In the beginning, it is the game designer who develops the concept for the game, and while that designer may receive the lion's share of the ...

Although Zoho CEO Sridhar Vembu doesn't describe his company as the Wal-Mart of the software world, he would likely find the comparison apt Some vendors stand out from their peers because they were the first to commercialize a particular application; some because they were the most successful in evangelizing or educating a potential user base of th...

Last week, I got into an argument about whether Microsoft was using TomTom to go after Linux. I also attended several events where the massive costs of the AMD vs. Intel litigation were discussed. I got to thinking how both entities -- AMD and FLOSS -- are currently defined by the dominant company that exists in their space. For FLOSS -- the open source software community, not the stuff you clean your teeth with -- it is Microsoft that seems to define them, and they have been largely the anti-Microsoft folks for all of this decade. Now that Microsoft is interoperating, has its own open source efforts, and is generally not pissing off buyers as much, FLOSS has evidently decided to FUD Linux and blame Microsoft. ...

Everyone knows cyber-crime is a cat and mouse game, usually involving a bit of social engineering to trick unsuspecting computer users into clicking a link, installing some software or providing valuable information. The latest trick in crooks' bags: "recession malware." This is a new generation of malware that exploits consumers' financial woes and other recession-era problems. It's trapping consumers and businesses alike...

On the face of it, the tie-in between Sprint and Palm for the upcoming Palm Pre brings to mind two drowning men hanging on to each other for dear life in a rough sea Pre users will reportedly be offered Sprint's "Everything" line of plans, which covers voice and data....

IBM is dropping anchor in the water management industry with the development of several new technologies and the launch of a new consulting service targeting utilities. This is not an entirely new focus for IBM, although it is clearly a deviation from its pure IT heritage. Big Blue has been mulling so-called smart water technologies since at least...

Television network, meet social network. Hulu, the online video lovechild of Fox and NBC, announced Thursday the addition of Hulu Friends, which gives users the opportunity to set up profiles, share favorite episodes of hit shows like "24" or "The Office" and leave Facebook-style updates on each other's pages In fact, Hulu Friends allows integratio...

Struggling Internet portal America Online has tapped Google executive Tim Armstrong as its new chairman and chief executive officer, the company announced Friday AOL, a division of Time Warner, also announced the departures of current AOL chairman and CEO Randy Falco and President and COO Ron Grant, both of whom were appointed just two years ago....

In my previous column in this space, I examined the trends which are driving IT managers to increasingly embrace Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions to better support their end-users and help their organizations achieve their corporate objectives A growing number of managed services providers (MSPs) are also becoming advocates for leveraging the...

This is the second in a three-part series. Part 1 examines how companies can use business intelligence to their strategic advantage. Here, we look at the features and functionality of various systems Knowledge is power, but without context and imagination, it's just bytes of data, every bit as dark and useless as ignorance itself. "One bank CIO rec...

This is the second installment in a three-part series. Part 1 outlines the discussions that surround the evolution of the Linux kernel. Part 2 takes a look at the current state of opinions on the standardization process When Microsoft won its bid to make Office Open XML an international standard last year, it was a pivotal moment for many in the FO...

After sifting through a long list of stories, headlines, podcasts and, yes, tweets about Twitter over the past week -- only one week, mind you -- I have just one question on my microblog-addled mind: Would the news media shut up already about Twitter and just buy the damn thing? I first floated the idea of a media company that owns a news organizat...

Facebook's makeover is now official. The social networking site has rolled out its revamped page with a so-called Social Graph for users to better connect with friends and new contacts and an improved Publisher that now sits on the top of the home page Upgrades to that feature make it easier to add changes to status, links, photos, pushing more con...

Massachusetts Institute of Technology has electrifying news, if you'll pardon the pun -- engineers at the institute have come up with a way to speed up the charging and discharging of lithium-ion batteries to a matter of seconds Lithium-ion, or Li-Ion, batteries are the ones you'll see in your laptop, cell phone and other electronic devices, as wel...

Executives at flagging online auction site eBay outlined a plan Wednesday to revive the once-mighty Internet company's fortunes Chief Executive John Donahoe told Wall Street analysts that the company's greatest growth potential lies in its online payment unit, PayPal. eBay will also institute changes to its Marketplace business, the CEO said....

Example No. 2,351 that it's a Google world and we're all just living in it: The search giant announced late Wednesday a slow rollout of Google Voice, the company's first attempt at unified communications. But Google Voice could also serve as a clarion call that a different kind of competitor may have arrived for UC providers such as Microsoft and Cisco Systems...

The historians will have to be very kind to this global financial meltdown and should reward it for a most needed rude awakening call, which is forcing a dramatic change of traditional business models. Right now, all over the world, this crisis is teaching CEOs new things -- first, that it's time to face the music and change the tune, and secondly, an appreciation for finer details and anger management...