- Brushing up on your soft skills
- Dell's exploding laptop
- Joint Finnish-UK sting brings down virus writing gang
- Google Desktop out of beta
- Will open sourcing of Java cause it to fork?
- Survey: Eclipse trails other IDEs in features
- Symantec's appliances were so 2005
- Eclipse sheds light on Callisto benefits
- YAPPS (Yet Another Phone Phishing Scam)
- AT&T says it owns your personal info
June 29, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Brushing up on your soft skills
The temptation is to scoff at so-called experts who tell you how to get ahead. But if you're looking for career advancement and the higher pay that goes with it, there may be something to the advice by Bennett Ockrim, vice president of Professional Services at Spherion.
Spherion is $2 billion service provider for recruitment in IT, financial services and whatever.
At the core, outsourcing may be the reason why if you're a tech person you may need to brush up on what Ockrim calls your soft skills.
Tech people are becoming a dime a dozen, literally, so you need something more. You need to prove to a potential employer that you can add value to the company beyond your technical qualifications.
Companies are no longer willing to just spend money on a lot of pricey software engineers. As I said they are easy to come by now. Instead, they look at an individual applying for a job and think of him or her as a long-term investment. They want a return on that investment and that goes beyond your technical expertise.
"The enterprise is looking for people who can ascend beyond the technical realm and have an appreciation for the critical business issues of the day," Ockrim advices.
So what are some of the attributes needed by a person who has spent most of his career in IT in order to move farther up the corporate ladder?
Be a good listener and have an appreciation for business in general. You need to understand the top line and bottom line dynamics of the company and also understand the issues around market demand and what satisfies that demand.
Customer retention and how to improve is another key skill that
C-level executives are looking for.
You need the kind of communication skills that will allow you to articulate your thoughts and ideas beyond the bits and bytes of technology.
How do you get some of these skills? Not so easy.
You can go back to school and take business courses, public speaking, business writing, even role playing helps.
When I asked Ockrim if he thought a person could pull off a Liza Doolittle kind of transformation, he said yes. As long as inside that “rough” tech exterior beats the heart and brains of a
white shirt and tie, businessman who is creative and knows how to express himself.
Good luck and may the button-down IBM force be with you.
Posted by Ephraim Schwartz on June 29, 2006 03:31 PM
June 28, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Dell said it was investigating one of its laptop computer "seen bursting into flames in photographs on the Internet", Reuters reports.
"We have captured the notebook and have begun investigating the event," Dell spokeswoman Anne Camden said, confirming the computer was made by Dell but declining to specify the model. No one was hurt in the incident, she said.
The report of an exploding laptop at a conference in Osaka, Japan, accompanied by digital photos, was first published on technology industry news Web site The Inquirer last week.
The Dell spokeswoman said it was too early to draw any conclusions and added that it did not appear that the incident had anything to do with the battery issues related to a battery recall last year.
Posted by Mike Barton on June 28, 2006 02:03 PM
June 28, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Joint Finnish-UK sting brings down virus writing gang
Members of a group of computer virus authors responsible for creating a number of spyware-spreading viruses like Dogbot, Santabot and variants of Rbot were nabbed in a multi-national crackdown by officials in the UK and Finland. According to reports, arrests took place in both England and in Scotland, as well as Helsinki, where a 19-year-old man was arrested. According to a statement by UK antivirus firm Sophos, the group is believed to have connections to a number of different families of malicious software, much of it designed to create botnets. The group is also believed to have launched the opportunistic Stinx Trojan last year, which tried to leverage Sony's misbegotten DRM technology to evade detection, Sophos said.
Posted by Paul Roberts on June 28, 2006 05:41 AM
June 27, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Version 4 of Google Desktop is out, but more noteworthy with the news is that it is out of beta.
"We're post-beta!", Google writes.
That gold feeling is lost quickly with the news that follows in the same paragraph: "Plus there are now beta versions of Google Desktop in 27 languages (up from 16)."
And the desktop wars have ramped up a notch against Yahoo and Microsoft (Vista)with Google Desktop Gadget Designer, which lets developers customize apps.
Google is giving away $8000 in a contest for developers to come up with the best gadget. "The contest is only open for the next month, so put on your coding hat and start churning out those cool gadgets you've always wanted."
Does this news of Desktop coming out of beta portend Gmail may be next? Geez, I've used it for years. But would you trust Google to handle payments with its GBuy (PayPal killer) in beta form?
And what's the next big widget/gadget must-have? I turned it off in Vista right away, until someone convinces me with a clever one that I'll use every day.
Talk back to us below.
Posted by Mike Barton on June 27, 2006 04:46 PM
June 27, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Will open sourcing of Java cause it to fork?
Sun Microsystems looks like it will be open sourcing the Java programming language in just a few more months.
The company apparently is ironing out issues with maintaining compatability in Java and ensuring no single company develops its own implementation, according to Simon Phipps, chief open source officer at Sun. Phipps spoke at the Open Source Business Conference Europe in London this week. The event is being covered by InfoWorld affiliate IDG News Service.
Sun revealed open source plans for Java at the JavaOne conference in San Francisco last month, but did not set a timetable. After being pressured into the open source move for Java, it will be interesting to see if Sun can maintain the compatability in Java that it has sought to preserve. If the code is out in public with no restrictions, who knows what kind of forking and derivatives might arise.
Might Java end up like Unix, with its multiple, vendor-specific variants?
Posted by Paul Krill on June 27, 2006 01:57 PM
June 27, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Survey: Eclipse trails other IDEs in features
While the Eclipse IDE receives a lot of attention for its popularity and growth, a recent survey of developers actually rated it last when it comes to features and user satisfaction.
Additionally, Eclipse may be the most popular IDE for the Java platform, but it is only third in overall usage, according to the survey, conducted by Evans Data.
Evan Data's IDE Scorecard features results of a study in which more than 1,200 developers worldwide ranked the IDE's they were using. Finishing 10th and 11th respectively in the features part of the survey were the open source NetBeans and Eclipse IDEs. This was attributed by Evans Data to their open and evolving nature.
"Open source applications are by nature dynamic and evolutionary. While they initially have a disadvantage to applications that are carefully researched, designed, architected and produced by vendors that stand behind their products with support and service, the force of the community behind them will look at weaknesses as opportunities and they will be addressed in innovative and most likely powerful ways," Evans said.
"We expect to see both NetBeans and Eclipse improve their rankings in the next version of this survey," the company said.
The Eclipse Foundation generally provides a base level of functionality that it makes available to third-party companies and others, who can then add value on top of the platform.
As far as features, IBM Rational Application Developer was cited as the number one IDE, although it had relatively few users compared to the other platforms. It received the highest ratings for modeling and design tools, documentation, Make/Build function and technical support. Microsoft Visual Studio finished second and Borland Delphi was third.
In usage, Visual Studio ranked first, with 31.7 percent of respondents using it and Visual Studio being used in 59.8 percent of cases. It was followed by Adobe/Macromedia Studio 8 (11.8 percent, 22.2 percent), Eclipse (11.2 percent, 21.2 percent), Borland Delphi (7.6 percent, 14.3 percent), Sun Java Studio (6.2 percent, 11.6 percent) and NetBeans (4.6 percent, 8.6 percent).
Rounding out the list were Borland JBuilder (4.5 percent, 8.5 percent), Oracle JDeveloper (4 percent, 7.6 percent), IBM WebSphere Studio (3.5 percent, 6.6 percent), IBM Rational Application Developer (2.5 percent, 4.6 percent) and Sybase PowerBuilder (1.9 percent, 3.6 percent).
"Eclipse is the most popular Java IDE right now and is well on its way to becoming one of the most popular IDEs for any language," Evans Data said.
An Evans Data representative noted that developers surveyed may each use more than one of the IDEs cited, and that the percentages were not based on exclusive use.
Posted by Paul Krill on June 27, 2006 08:26 AM
June 23, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Symantec's appliances were so 2005
Symantec's exit from the security appliances business seems like a retreat, but the company may deserve more credit than that. In fact, this could be a rare case of Big Yellow being ahead of the curve.
Combining a number of security services into a preconfigured, "plug and play" hardware device certainly makes them easier to deploy, but many datacenters have had enough of this good thing. As IT groups look to VMware, Microsoft, Xen, and other virtualization schemes to shed much of the under-utilized hardware they already have, they need appliances like holes in the head. Symantec may have seen the writing on the virtual wall.
Besides, thanks to virtualization, we've entered an era when you can have your appliance and eat it too. By packaging its security apps in a VMware, Microsoft, or Xen virtual machine, Symantec can remain in the appliances business without being in the hardware business. In a world where you could easily add a firewall, spam filter, or IPS to any Intel or AMD server farm by pushing a ready-to-run software stack through a pipe, Symantec no doubt realizes that it is coming in through the out door.
Posted by Doug Dineley on June 23, 2006 03:14 PM
June 23, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Eclipse sheds light on Callisto benefits
Functional highlights of next week's Callisto release from the Eclipse Foundation include a standalone OSGi (Open Services Gateway initiative) runtime, Web services tooling and platform support for OS X on Intel and Windows Vista, Eclipse said in a press statement.
Callisto synchronizes the release of multiple open source technologies.
The new OSGi runtime, which is part of the Eclipse Rich Client Platform, gives developers the option to use the runtime as a standalone framework. "As a standalone framework, it will enable developers to use it in a variety of application architectures, including embedded, client and server applications," Eclipse said in its statement.
New Web services tooling, meanwhile, will simplify creation, deployment and profile of Web services. These tools will be in the Web Tools and Test and Performance Tools Platforms.
With support for OS X on Intel and a preview of support for Vista, Eclipse developers can build applications for these platforms.
Also featured in Callisto are Release 1.0 of both the Data Tools Platform, to provide frameworks for building data-centric applications, and Graphical Modeling Framework, to make it easy to build applications that incorporate graphical editors.
Callisto projects will be available for download on June 30. The Callisto Web page is here.
Posted by Paul Krill on June 23, 2006 03:08 PM
June 23, 2006 | Comments: (0)
YAPPS (Yet Another Phone Phishing Scam)
Looks like customers at Santa Barbara Bank & Trust are the latest the latest victims of "phone phishing," according to an alert posted by Websense. If you're not hip to "phone phishing" yet, it's basically a variation on the traditional Web phishing scam: you get an e-mail from some trusted vendor (Amazon, PayPal, a bank) that asks you to please confirm your account information, lest some dire event occur (account cancelled, password reset, money forfeited, asteroid crashed into house). Instead of a link to a malicious Web page that harvests your information, however, phone phishing scams ask you to call a phone number. Presumably this gives consumers more assurance that they're dealing with an actual company. In reality, of course, they just reach an automated answering machine that asks them to punch in their account number.
Meet the new phish. Same as the old phish.
In the case of the latest scam, SBB&T customers received a phishing e-mail that reads "Message 156984 Client's Details Confirmation (Santa Barbara Bank & Trust)."
"We've noticed that you experienced trouble logging into Santa Barbara Bank & Trust Online Banking.After three unsuccessful attempts to access your account, your Santa Barbara Bank & Trust Online Profile has been locked...Call this phone number (1-805-XXX-XXXX) to verify your account and your identity."
Pretty sneaky, especially if the spam campaign is targeted at email addresses in the Santa Barbara area. You know at least a handful of people will probably fit that description: SBB&T customers who have been locked out of online banking sessions in recent memory. That's plausible enough to call the line. The 805 area code only makes the whole thing more plausible --as funky area codes are one of the key tip-offs that companies like Microsoft advise people to look out for.
Posted by Paul Roberts on June 23, 2006 12:07 PM
June 23, 2006 | Comments: (0)
AT&T says it owns your personal info
If there was ever a better time to drop AT&T as your telecommunications provider and switch to a VoIP service I can't think of it.
People need to vote with their feet, so to speak. By unsubscribing to AT&T you will be telling them their new policy on who owns your private information sucks.
Read IDGs Steve Lawson for the full story, "AT&T claims subscribers' data as its own." But in essence, AT&T announced as of today, Friday, June 23rd its new policy. Here in a nutshell is what it says.
"While your account information may be personal to you, these records constitute business records that are owned by AT&T. As such, AT&T may disclose such records to protect its legitimate business interests, safeguard others, or respond to legal process," reads the policy.
Under the guise of having to comply with government snooping what else might AT&T do with your personal information?
If business is bad I suppose it can "protect its legitimate business interests" by selling your info to another company. After all, if they don't sell it their business interests may suffer.
This is a new low as far as I am concerned.
Posted by Ephraim Schwartz on June 23, 2006 09:49 AM
June 22, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Flock has released the beta 1 of its uber-social browser.
Flock is "a free web browser that makes it easier than ever to share photos, stay up-to-date with news from your favorite sites, and search the Web", the VC-backed young company says.
The Flock blog said of the beta: "For this release, and for at least the next year or so, we are primarily focused on supporting the social dimension of the web, and on bringing information closer to the user. Right now this includes a heavy emphasis on the photo experience (from upload through discovery to notification), RSS support, dramatic improvements to the search box (including a new take on favorites), and blogging."
It's been a while since Flock told us it hopes the new browser will fly with users.
Does a beefed-up social browser make sense? Give it a spin and talk back to us and let others know.
It's great to see some browser buzz again with this and Opera 9's release yesterday. Opera 9 is looking to me at first glance to be a real contender in interface and performance.
Posted by Mike Barton on June 22, 2006 04:12 PM
June 21, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Net neutrality face-off on NPR
Scott Cleland, chairman of NetCompetition.org wrote to us to give a heads-up on his commentary for NPR Morning Edition opposing Net neutrality.
Craig Newmark, founder of community classifieds giant Craigslist, will do the commentary supporting Net neutrality on Thursday's Morning Edition.
See the face-off page here, with links to each of their arguments.
Tune in to both and talk back to us below on if Net neutrality matters to you.
The issue is far from decided: Groups have been pushing alternatives, and the Senate's chairman has offered a net neutrality deal following his vow to fight any net neutrality regulation.
What chance do you think any legislation has? Is a tiered Internet a done deal?
Posted by Mike Barton on June 21, 2006 03:03 PM
June 20, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Claria software, which announced back in March that it is getting out of the adware business, posted notices to users of its GAIN service that it will stop working on July 1, 2006. As of that date, folks with the GAIN pop-up advertising wares installed will actually stop receiving pop-ups.(Pop-ups discontinued? This must be a first.) However, the company will still collect Web use data until October 1, 2006, Claria said.
Claria is focusing on a new service it calls "PersonalWeb" that allows consumers to customize their Web experience (whatever that means), and raked in US $40 million in VC to fund that effort back in April.
To an untrained ear, PersonalWeb sounds an awful lot like My Yahoo! and all the other customized Web portal services. You can "automatically create a custom Home Page for every user." The difference, I suppose, is that PersonalWeb monitors your surfing behavior and updates your page with links to things that seem to be related to your interests. So i guess its like if you went out shopping, and then all the stores where you browsed got to follow you home and set up little kiosks on your lawn...am I wrong here??
Posted by Paul Roberts on June 20, 2006 10:37 AM
June 20, 2006 | Comments: (0)
By "freezing" chips to 451 degrees below zero, researchers have produced a semiconductor that operates 250 times faster than chips commonly used today.
According to a report in today's New York Times, researchers at IBM and Georgia Institute of Technology achieved the speed milestone using a cryogenic test station to freeze the chip with liquid helium to temperatures normally found only in outer space.
This development has the potential to rewrite ideas about the physical limitations of silicon-based chip performance. However the technology likely will not find its way into commercial products any time soon; Bernard Meyerson, a VP in I.B.M.'s systems and technology group, said in the New York Times article that developments like this typically find their way into commercial products in 12 to 24 months.
Posted by Caroline Craig on June 20, 2006 06:20 AM
June 19, 2006 | Comments: (0)
The company formerly known as Computer Associates
Taking a page out of the Colonel's finger-lickin' playbook, Computer Associates is on the move shedding its past with a hip name change.
Like with KFC, only CA will identify the company formerly known as Computer Associates, as that name is wiped from ad collateral Web- and print-wide.
"CA" is a bit more problematic, however, with California and Canada vying for those two letters in a Web search, for example.
But that's nothing a major ad spend can't fix, the company hopes.
Posted by Mike Barton on June 19, 2006 12:36 PM
June 19, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Oracle on Monday is again promoting the concept of SOA 2.0, with the release of Oracle Event-Driven Architecture (EDA) Suite, featuring Oracle Fusion Middleware products.
The middleware offerings allow customers to identify, analyze and respond to business events in real-time. EDA is a key component of SOA 2.0 which, according to Oracle, is the next-generation of SOA that defines how events and services are linked together to deliver a responsive and flexible IT infrastructure.
Featured in the suite are:
* Oracle Enterprise Messaging, to deliver event messages.
* Oracle Enterprise Service Bus, to collect and distribute events.
* Oracle Business Rules, for defining business policies on events.
* Oracle Business Activity Monitoring, to monitor and analyze events.
* Oracle Sensor Edge Server, supporting RFID and managing events from physical sensors and automation equipment.
Oracle pitched the concept of SOA 2.0 at the JavaOne conference in San Francisco in May. The analysis firm, Gartner, also is promoting it.
Not everyone is enthralled with the creation of the concept, SOA 2.0. An online petition against it is even in circulation.
Posted by Paul Krill on June 19, 2006 10:58 AM
June 19, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Ozzie's talking about a Microsoft revolution
"By promoting a man whose approach to software development may be more in keeping with the Google-obsessed era in which we live, it could also signal the latest in a series of internal revolutions that have proved how dangerous it is to underestimate Microsoft, a company often written off in the technology world as a lumbering giant unsuited to the changing times, The Australian writes.
Ozzie was thrust into the hot seat as chief software architect at Microsoft last week, to fill Bill Gates' shoes.
The Australian's suggestion is expected as all eyes, or pent up hope, are on Microsoft to see if it can be turned around to actually challenge Google's momentum. (We won't pin its roll on innovation, Matt.)
But maybe the story is on to something that Google has seemed to capitilze on, hands-on know-how.
"Ray's a programmer's programmer," says Rob Enderle, a technology commentator. "He's much closer to an uber-engineer, whereas Bill hasn't been a programmer for a number of years."
The story continues:
Microsoft's strategy under Mr Gates has centred on what the company calls "integrated innovation" -- the idea that by closely linking all of its software, from Windows and Office to its server products, Microsoft can produce better products than rivals that deal with only one part of the computing ecosystem...That, however, has introduced a level of complexity that has bedeviled Microsoft's development process, in part resulting in delays that have left the next version of Windows running years late.
Ozzie has pushed for more clear objectives for projects and emphasising frequent re-releases of software, rather than the kitchen sink-approach of Vista, for example.
"Complexity kills," Mr Ozzie wrote in a recent internal memo, The Oz reports. "It sucks the life out of developers, it makes products difficult to plan, build and test, it introduces security challenges, and it causes end-user and administrator frustration."
I certainly makes business sense to release things gradually, versus waiting years to update products -- say, Windows -- in a meaningful way. It seems more natural with software, as the landscape changes so quickly. I've been promoting gradual implementation for Web sites for nearly 10 years after seeing "redesign" after "redesign" hold up needed and obvious improvements. The whole process seems to get lost when it is all bundled in to a mega-redesign, or major product release in Microsoft's case.
Why couldn't Microsoft offer a premium (read: pay) upgrade to XP to offer some of the more needed basic features: search apps etc, some security features, and the interface tweak??
One Tech Watch commenter writes it is part of the culture Gates created:
Being a former Lotus Notes programmer for one of Lotus's closest ISVs back in the 90's, I remember very distinctly how Lotus and particularly Iris held a very group oriented approach in all aspects. Not just the software they wrote, but in how they interacted with each other and how they perceived other's interacting with them. There were some politics there, but by and large, it was one big happy communal family.I also worked for Microsoft for a time and my experience could not have been more diametrically opposed. Microsoft, at least back in the early 90's was all about empowering the individual. That sounds real nice until you experience someone else empowering themselves at your expense. The politics of that organization were, well let's just say they were inline with the largest corporations around.
Gates' departure, while significant, will not erase the hiring decisions that were made in his image over the past 30 years. Because of that I have a hard time believing that the departure of one employee, regardless of who it is, will change the organization enough to allow the kind of changes Ray Ozzie will want to make in his own image. No organization can change overnight, and I'm not sure Mr. Ozzie will be able to muster the sustained patience necessary to get comfortable again.
Can Ozzie turn Microsoft around? Talk back to us below.
Posted by Mike Barton on June 19, 2006 09:33 AM
June 19, 2006 | Comments: (0)
The SANS Internet Storm Center is warning that a new, undiscovered (0day) exploit for Microsoft's IIS Web server may be circulating online. Among the evidence they point to are a defacement of a Microsoft France Web page (documented via Flickr here.) and some "chatter" on defacement hub Zone-H that attributed it to a Web server intrusion which could mean an IIS hole, or merely a Web application hole. Given the widespread use of IIS as a Web server, any 0day, remotely exploitable hole is serious business. However, pictures of a small-scale defacement of microsoft.fr (the targeted page is offline) are hardly proof enough to warrant getting alarmed. Who knows, given the tendency of defacers to exaggerate, and France's bum luck of late, there could be greater powers at work here than a mere Web server hole!
Posted by Paul Roberts on June 19, 2006 07:55 AM
June 16, 2006 | Comments: (0)
The government's plan for e-voting security? Trust!
We here in the U.S. luuuv Norman Rockwell illustrations, don't we? The one of that little kid sitting next to the cop at the diner? Or how about the illustration celebrating the Freedom of Speech, where a plain looking joe stands up to speak at town meeting. They're so all-American in their grittiness and optimism. Why, that guy standing up in front of his fellow citizens would never get caught speeding down the highway with his wife's severed head next to him on the front seat, just as the elected official he's speaking his mind to wouldn't even contemplate using a bootable CD or USB drive to introduce viral code onto a vulnerable electronic voting kiosk, changing the vote tally and, maybe, swaying a hotly contested election.
Unfortunately, we don't live in a Norman Rockwell illustration -- this is the real world. And that's why the U.S. Election Assistance Committee's latest "quick start" guide to election workers on managing electronic voting systems is so disappointing. The guide, which was just released, is well-meaning: get poll workers comfortable working with e-voting kiosks and make sure they handle and manage the systems properly.
However, with little federal guidance or oversight of elections and, thus, election security, the guide kind of sounds like something out of one of those Saturday Evening Post illustrations, despite ample evidence that voting machine irregularities have disrupted ballot counts on numerous occasions.
Workers are given good advice like "never connect your voting system computer to the Internet or to any internal network," and "never allow any software on the voting system computer except the voting system software."
Fair enough -- but how, exactly, are polling workers supposed to be able to assess or monitor this kind of thing? These are volunteers, after all, and not exactly the kind of folks who are recruited for their IT skills. How about some kinds of auditable controls that would lock down the kiosks and physically and logically prevent network access once the kiosks were ready for use in the actual election?
If nothing else, the new "Quick Start" guide is just more proof point in a long string of evidence that the U.S. government needs to step in to assure the security of electronic voting kiosks and the voting process.
For example, the quick start guide says that poll workers should "control and monitor access to the voting system computer at all times. Consider securing this computer in a controlled access room and keep a log of everyone who accesses the system, along with the date and reason."
Consider? We're talking about the central vote tabulator here -- shouldn't there be some specific guidance here? Some kind of security mandated for this vital link in the voting integrity chain?
But again, these are just suggestions, without the force of law or regulation. With no official framework to refer to, and no consistency in voting technology or procedure from county to county, let alone state to state, how can a "Quick Start" guide be anything more than a vague list of suggestions addressing a hypothetical situation. ("Before flying your supersonic jet fighter, don't forget to put on your pressurized flight suit!")
As the GAO has noted, the Federal governments security standards for voting systems are entirely voluntary, and have "vague and incomplete security provisions," to boot. Since that report, EAC issued new guidelines, due to take affect in December, that replace the maligned 2002 Voting System Standards (VSS) and institute stricter testing of voting machines, but again, are "voluntary. States may decide to adopt them entirely or in part prior to the effective date."
Rockwell like "Trust" seems to be the magic glue in the U.S.'s electronic voting plans, as well as those of electronic voting vendors. Most recently, a Diebold Election Systems spokesman,David Bear, scoffed at reports from security experts of critical holes in touch screen systems made by his company saying, telling the New York Times "For there to be a problem here, you're basically assuming a premise where you have some evil and nefarious election officials who would sneak in and introduce a piece of software," he said. "I don't believe these evil elections people exist."
But hey, maybe I'm too cynical. Maybe e-voting is just the latest crusade for the Black Helicopter set, who see conspiracies everywhere, no matter what evidence to the contrary. And maybe we here in the U.S. are really as gritty and plainspoken and morally upright as Rockwell portrayed us. In that case, we can get by with voluntary standards, lax oversight and absent enforcement. Politicians and appointed elections officials of all stripes will put aside their partisan leanings and do what's right for the greater good, rather than their team. Maybe.
Posted by Paul Roberts on June 16, 2006 11:08 AM
June 16, 2006 | Comments: (0)
True Vista Premium hardware requirements out
When you pick the Windows Vista box off shelves sometime net year, the printed requirements on the box "will be simple: 800MHz CPU, 512MB RAM, and a DirectX 9.0-Capable graphics card. Users who want the "premium experience" (read: Aero interface) will need 1GHz CPU, 1GB of RAM, and plenty of RAM for that DirectX 9.0-Capable graphics card. Those requirements will likely never change, at least not for the first release of Vista", reports ars technica.
If you're an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) like Gateway or Dell, it gets much more complex than that, however. For OEMs, there is a higher standard to meet if they wish to place a "Vista Premium" sticker on a laptop or desktop computer. The logo sticker is meant to assure consumers that Microsoft's Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL) have validated a machine's configuration, and OEMs use the process, even if they don't love it, writes ars technica.Highlights:
Effective now:
--HD Audio support that passes a "high-fidelity audio experience" test (exception: Business class systems have until June 1, 2007).
Support for Direct3d 9 and DXGI feature sets (Direct3d 10 mandated by June 1, 2008).
--At least one digital output (e.g., DVI-D) for all add-in video adapters (not integrated video: that doesn't change until June 1, 2008).
--100Mb Ethernet and/or and WiFi (802.11g must be supported; 802.11a can be supported only in addition to 802.11g).
USB 2.0 ports throughout
--System resumes from ACPI S3 state ("suspend-to-ram") in <2 seconds (does not include user mode initialization, i.e., total "wake" time will be longer than 2 seconds)June 1, 2007, or later:
--A Green Driver Quality Rating for all drivers.
--If Serial ATA is used, Serial ATA 2.5 must be supported.
"Protected Video Path" (PVP) support, including HDCP.
--Support for booting from USB drives, including flash drives
--Hiccup-free HD playback, including hardware-based H.264/MPEG-4 decoding.
--At least one digital output (e.g., DVI-D) for all integrated video adapters (June 1, 2008).
Of top note in ars' comments on the specs is that "next-generation video 'protection schemes' such as HDCP and PVP (along with HDMI, by definition) not required until later this year, and in the case of integrated digital outputs, not until 2008. The primary reason for this, I suspect, is the fact that the Image Constraint Token is 'on hold,' as [ars] previously reported."
Another to be noted is that dual monitor support is not entirely mandatory.
Suggestion from ars is go "Premium", but really, who needs Aero Glass? InfoWorld's second look at Vista beta 2 notes: "As stated in last week's column, I think Vista's display technologies will be the initial thorn in most desktop administrator's sides. The Aero interface is cool, but it's still flaky and requires tweaking. Plus it's guaranteed to weird out your older users. Fortunately, you can click back to an earlier XP-like display model, which is what I'd suggest for all but your most advanced users out of the gate," writes Oliver Rist.
XP is looking sweet to me for the next year, having run beta 2, which is slow and annoying with all the Defender prompts. And Aero Glass is supposed to be working on my Dell E1405 with Intel GMA 950 graphic system, with 1GB system RAM giving it more than 200MB for graphics. No go at all.
But the Dell only came with a Vista Capable sticker, so what can I expect?
Did you expect more clear definition on the requirements? Talk back to us.
Posted by Mike Barton on June 16, 2006 11:02 AM
June 15, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Internet retailer Amazon.com has started selling groceries on its Web site, a cautious step into a business that was one of the biggest casualties of the dot-com collapse.
The service is limited to non-perishable goods such as cereal, pasta and canned soup, but Amazon can ship those items to any customer, unlike online grocers that only deliver to limited areas, Reuters reports.
My favorite dot-com era idea was the outfit that had local SF Bay Area chefs put together gourmet meal packs that you would then cook up at home. You ordered it on the Web in the morning by a certain time and it was delivered by about 5pm.
Working as a magazine editor at the time I tried it for review and cooked my now wife a really lovely dinner of NY steak and garlic mashed potatoes, which she thought was home-cooked (until I showed her the shipment's boxes crammed in the closet in the kitchen).
Guess what? Didn't last either. But WebVan was a bit more realistic business proposition; go ask Safeway.
Has Amazon lost the plot here? Or can it take off where WebVan failed?
Better question: What was your favorite dot-com era service that only Amazon could revive?
Posted by Mike Barton on June 15, 2006 04:10 PM
June 15, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Microsoft's Tech-Ed Conference has been going on all week here in Boston, and there's been lots of great stuff going on -- we heard about the company's plans for its Live platform, its security wares (now "Forefront") and the company's plans for supporting AJAX. But if you had the good fortune to attend Tech-Ed, you can't help but notice that all that takes a waaay back seat to some other news, namely The World Cup, which is (smartly) being broadcast on huge flat screen TVs all over the Boston Convention center, with scores of entranced futbol fans crowded around them. Standing in the crowds, your ears hear German, French, Farsi and British accented English. Sure, a lot of them work for companies that are going to shell out thousands of dollars for them to watch the World Cup in the air conditioned comfort of the Boston Convention Center, but what the hell. They're having fun. The World Cup has also added a strange kind of exhilliration to the otherwise staid (read: dull) trade show thing. I walked in this afternoon just in time to see the hall erupt as England went up 1:0 against Trinidad and Tobego. (England ended up winnning 2-0). No offense to Microsoft, but you don't see folks jumping out of their seats, shouting and hugging each other over User Account Control. ;-)
But hey, Microsoft is a company that gets it. They know they've got a worldwide community of developers. It's just smart planning to have the World's most important sporting event available for easy viewing -- not to mention copius amounts of coffee, fruit, soda and sweets. And it's nice to realize that the otherwise "on message" folks in Redmond realize that there are some things more important that software applications. ;-)
I'm not the only one to notice that application development isn't the first thing on everybody's mind here at Tech-Ed. Check out Julie Lerman's blog for some nice pix of the World Cup scene here at the show.
Posted by Paul Roberts on June 15, 2006 03:43 PM
June 15, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Gates and Spider-Man: misunderstood
Only Microsoft could pull off a stop-the-presses announcement essentially saying that its number two guy was leaving in two years. That's a lifetime in the software industry. But with the slew of new Microsoft products and technologies rolling out between 2006 and 2007, the role of that number two guy -- in this case, their Chief Software Architect, Bill Gates -- looms large.
In his press conference, Gates noted that "With Great wealth comes great responsibility," echoing Spider-man's dictum "With great power comes great responsibility." Perhaps the choice of quote might offer a clue as to how Gates sees himself: The vastly misunderstood Peter Parker type, who just wants to do good but is routinely vilified by the very public he wants to help. And no one could argue about all the good he's done with his charitable work (which he'll be focusing on come 2008). He doesn't get nearly as much public acclaim for his considerable work in remaking the face of software in the late 20th and early 21st century.
Interestingly, Gates seems to have receded into the background of late, leaving Steve Ballmer as the pugnacious public face and tireless cheerleader. Yet Gates's fingerprints, though subtle, are all over recent Microsoft efforts. The flashy UI touches in upcoming Vista don't seem all that Gatesian, but the underlying architectural changes in Longhorn server, changes to the WinFX stack (.Net 3.0), revamping structural underpinnings of Active Directory and SharePoint all point to someone deep under the hood, rewiring the guts and tinkering with the motor.
The choice of Ray Ozzie, the man who brought us Lotus Notes and Groove, is an interesting, though not unexpected, choice. Ozzie's body of work suggests that he understands that collaboration is the key to future advances in business ... and in software. That is not necessarily the Redmond way, since Microsoft built its early reputation on empowering the single user. Ray Ozzie will push the group-cooperation agenda. But there's a catch: Ozzie may be a brilliant, even visionary, developer, but he has traditionally leaned on big, beefy collaboration platforms. Groove (which Microsoft bought in 2005) is no exception.
Heavyweight apps, though, are so old school. The real software darlings these days are lightweight collaboration packages with a Web 2.0 pedigree. Mash-ups, Web service interfaces, on-the-fly collaborative efforts are the wave of the future. It's worth pondering whether Ray Ozzie can adapt.
Talk back to me below.
Posted by Steve Fox on June 15, 2006 02:54 PM
June 15, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Gates to end daily role at Microsoft
By Elizabeth Montalbano, IDG News Service
updated 6:45 p.m. Pacific
Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates said Thursday he will step out of his daily role at Microsoft in July 2008 so he can take on a full-time role at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the charity organization he runs with his wife.
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"Obviously, this decision was a hard one for me to make," he said. "I feel lucky to have two passions that are so important to me. Even as I prepare to shift my focus ... I know Microsoft is well-positioned [for the future]."
Gates said he will remain as chairman "indefinitely," but Ray Ozzie, now chief technology officer, assumed the chief software architect title immediately. Ozzie, 50, came to Microsoft in April 2005 when it purchased his company, Groove Networks. Ozzie is perhaps best known for his work on what would eventually become the popular Lotus Notes e-mail and collaboration software.
Another executive assuming a new role effective Thursday is Craig Mundie, who is now chief research and strategy officer and also will partner with Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel, to lead the company's intellectual property and technology policy efforts. Previously, Mundie, 56, was chief technical officer of advanced strategies and policy, working alongside Gates to develop technical, business and policy strategies for Microsoft.
Founded in 2000, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is the world's largest charitable organization, providing global health and education initiatives worldwide. The foundation is particularly known for its efforts to improve the health and welfare of people in Africa. In fact, Bill and Melinda Gates and Bono, [cq] frontman of the rock band U2, were named "Persons of the Year" by Time magazine in 2005 for their efforts in Africa.
Insiders said that Gates in recent years has become more passionate about his role as philanthropist than he has about being a top executive at the world's largest software company. He said Thursday that he has a responsibility to make the world a better place with the "gift of great wealth" he's been given because of Microsoft's success.
Gates also downplayed his role as the great innovator at the company, and said Microsoft will continue to show leadership in providing software that changes people's lives.
"The world has had a tendency to focus a disproportionate amount of attention on me," he said. "In reality, Microsoft has had an unbelievably strong breadth and depth of talent."
Gates founded Microsoft, then Micro-Soft, in 1975 with Paul Allen, and dropped out of Harvard University in his junior year. Five years later Gates persuaded his Harvard buddy Steve Ballmer to join. Ballmer, the first nonengineer at Microsoft, became the company's chief executive officer in 2000 after having long been regarded as Gates' co-pilot.
Allen left Microsoft in 1983 after he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease, a cancer of the lymphatic system.
Ballmer said Thursday was an emotional day for him, having worked "shoulder to shoulder" with Gates for 26 years. He said even when Gates' role at the company diminishes, his impact will be felt for years to come.
"Bill may reduce his time here, but his imprint on the company will never diminish," he said. "It will continue to be reflected in everything we do."
Indeed, filling Gates' shoes will be a big task, and it appears Ozzie is going to take on the bulk of that with the chief architect role, which comes as little surprise, said one analyst.
"Ray Ozzie was heir apparent to be the heart of Microsoft when he was hired," said Rob Enderle, [cq] an analyst with The Enderle Group in San Jose, California.
He said the chief software architect position entails being "a programmer's programmer" to the myriad developers working on software at Microsoft. In some ways, Ozzie is more qualified than Gates to take on that role, though Gates' legacy and history at Microsoft has made him a larger than life character, Enderle said.
Gates will be stepping away from a company that has been struggling to reinvent itself in the face of competition from a new generation of technology companies like Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. Microsoft's stock has essentially been flat since 2001, and earlier this year it took its biggest one-day drop in five years on news that the company would need to invest more money in research and development.
"The company has obviously found enormous success with Gates, but at the same time over the past year and a half, its seems like Microsoft has really lost its way," said Charles King [cq] principal analyst with Pund-IT Inc., based in Hayward, California.
Gates will be moving out of his job, just as Microsoft releases Office 2007 and Windows Vista, two of the largest and most ambitious products it has ever done, and he and Microsoft still have a lot of work before them, King said.
"These are products that are coming to market at a point where large numbers of consumers are moving toward highly mobile devices, and are focusing more on the appliance approach to computing," he said. "It'll be interesting to see what happens with Vista. It's going to have to have some amazing features and capabilities to successfully get xp out of people's minds."
Robert McMillan in San Francisco contributed to this story.
Talk back to us below.
Posted by Mike Barton on June 15, 2006 01:47 PM
June 15, 2006 | Comments: (0)
It's not Friday yet, but we know gadgets are part of most IT pros' daily lives, so check the latest tech gear from Japan in June, such as ultra-portable PCs, HD-DVD laptops, and flexible e-paper displays.
There's a lot of high-tech in there, but Sony's hand-cranked Disaster Radio is one low-tech item that is on my list. Too bad it does not do streaming Net radio.
In Japan the threat of a major earthquake is always present so it pays to be prepared. Stores have entire sections of earthquake-related goods and soon Sony's ICF-B01 portable radio will likely join the displays. The radio has a large hand-crank on the front so that you don't need batteries. Turning the handle for a minute (about 120 turns) will power the radio for an hour on an AM station or 40 minutes on an FM station. There is also an LED light that will run for 15 minutes on a minute of cranking and a charger cable for cell phones. This latter feature lets users charge-up their cell phone batteries through the radio's handcrank. It's on sale now in Japan and costs around ¥6,000 ($52). It won't be available outside of Japan.
Posted by Mike Barton on June 15, 2006 11:24 AM
June 15, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Run Windows, Mac OS X side by side
Startup company Parallels has released software that lets Mac users run Windows, Linux, or any other OS and their applications side by side with Mac OS X.
Parallels Desktop for Mac works on any Intel-powered iMac, Mac Mini, MacBook, or MacBook Pro. And unlike dual-boot solutions like Apple's Boot Camp, it lets users run Windows and other applications without leaving OS X.
Furthermore, "the difference in performance between Parallels and Boot Camp is negligible," said Parallels marketing manager Ben Rudolph, in a cNet report. "Things move very, very fast."
With Macs now near price parity with PCs, does the Parallels solution make it more compelling to consider switching to a Mac? Tell us what you think.
Posted by Caroline Craig on June 15, 2006 08:50 AM
June 14, 2006 | Comments: (0)
With Macs now in near price parity with PCs, has the time come to consider switching?
TechWeb's Switching To The Mac: A Guide For Windows Users has the wrap for you on the decision facing many when it comes time to upgrade.
While Vista is snazzy, and the trial I am taking is a beta, I think the bloatedness of Vista (3.5GB?!) could push some to the Mac OS, which is snappy, and not overly loaded up.
TechWeb puts it more on the hardware:
Yes, there are times when a Mac will cost more than a similarly-equipped PC. In that case, why get a Mac? Well, ask a BMW owner why she didn't buy a Dodge. They're both cars; they both get you where you need to go. But the BMW does it with more style and grace, better construction, and more of an "Ooooh" factor. Same thing with a Mac. You get consistently better quality, style, grace, and the instant attention that the Apple logo creates. For more than 25 million people, that's well worth some extra cash.
Perosnally, I think Windows XP is OK and does the job ... might just try a Vista theme or something. I was amazed how much snappier a Core Duo laptop was when booting into a barebones XP install -- one CD worth of code.
Posted by Mike Barton on June 14, 2006 03:34 PM
June 13, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Energy agency employee data stolen
A hacker has stolen a file containing the names and Social Security numbers of 1,500 people working for the Energy Department's nuclear-weapons agency in Albuquerque, New Mexico, says an AP/New Mexican report.
The report says:
But in the incident last September, similar to recent problems at the Veterans Affairs Department, senior officials were informed only two days ago, officials told a congressional hearing Friday. None of the victims were notified, they said.The data theft occurred in a computer system at a service center belonging to the National Nuclear Security Administration. The file contained information about contract workers throughout the agency's nuclear-weapons complex, a department spokesman said.
Posted by Mike Barton on June 13, 2006 04:39 PM
June 13, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Microsoft's Boston VB party a quiet one
It looked like it should have had all the makings of a battle royal. A raucous Boston VB party, perhaps
Microsoft, which had displeased many Visual Basic loyalists when it released its Visual Basic .Net upgrade, was offering a session at TechEd on Tuesday afternoon entitled, "Visual Basic: Today and Tomorrow."
Remembering an online petition last year and much griping about the migration path from Visual Basic 6 to Visual Basic .Net, I figured there would be much protesting at this session. (One objector in 2005 even told me the migration was akin to my being suddenly asked to write InfoWorld in French.)
But the session turned out to be a very quiet technical briefing, with some demos of current and upcoming features of Visual Basic. Based on this session, it seems like Microsoft is off the hook. Or maybe the crowd just did not present a large enough sampling of Visual Basic users. Who knows?
Microsoft's Steven Lees, group product manager for Visual Basic, said the company still is seeking to boost interoperability between Visual Basic 6 and Visual Basic .Net. "We're not really doing any product upgrades [to Visual Basic 6]. We're doing some work in VB.Net to make sort of an interop scenario work better," Lees said.
"When we go to talk to folks, there's still tons of VB6 code out there. We still want people to have a good experience running that. That's why we're actually still continuing to try to make [the] upgrade path smooth," Lees said.
The current Visual Basic technology makes it easier to write the kind of data-centric applications being written today, said Lees.
One key improvement eyed for Visual Basic in the planned "Orcas" release of the Visual Studio toolset is a leveraging of Microsoft's LINQ (Language-Integrated Query) technology. "What LINQ does is it gives me this sort of natural query syntax," Lees said. Enhanced XML support also is anticipated.
Now, will I hear from lots of Visual Basic users not as quiet about the migration as the ones at TechEd on Tuesday?
Posted by Paul Krill on June 13, 2006 04:29 PM
June 13, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Intel is said to have told "folks behind closed doors that AMD is planning to acquire ATI," ars technica reports, courtesy of Tweaktown.
The word on the street here at Computex 2006 is that Intel considers the talks of the possible merger between AMD and ATI very likely, even inevitable, in the near future.From a trusted and reliable anonymous source, today [believe it was June 8] we learned that Intel are talking behind closed doors about the real possibility of an AMD and ATI merger, with some seriousness, and discussing what it could mean for their future business and bottom line.
If you sit back and consider the facts for a minute, it all seems very logical. If the merger was to go ahead, it could affect ATI’s most direct competitor (nVidia) a lot - the merger would create a company who has the capacity to create good CPU’s, good chipsets and good GPU’s. By combining their resources, it opens things up for AMD and ATI to really take on Intel and nVidia in a big way and increase their market share in a range of different product segments.
Ars technica has a good look at what the speculation could hold for the computing world if true.
Posted by Mike Barton on June 13, 2006 03:18 PM
June 13, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Torrent fix for Vista download
With the Web there is a way, and Windows Vista Torrent has come to the rescue of the Web latecomer Microsoft for its public beta release of Windows Vista, for which it recommend ordering a DVD because the demand is crippling it servers.
The torrent site offers an "unofficial mirroring with official validation" with its BitTorrent download for Vista Beta 2.
This is not a crack, this is not a hack, this is not software piracy - it's unofficial mirroring with official validation. You can get a Windows Vista Beta 2 product key for free through Microsoft, as the OS won't install without one.
See the site for the process, and don't forget to leave your comments at Talkback: Your views on Vista.
Posted by Mike Barton on June 13, 2006 11:55 AM
June 12, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Microsoft is warning users to order a DVD of the Windows Vista beta 2 rather than downloading it because it says it can't deliver more bandwidth without impacting the Internet, reports say.
"We are experiencing extremely high download demand at this time. The wait time to start the download is very long and many customers may be unable to access the download site. To guarantee participation in the Customer Preview Program (to receive both Beta 2 and RC1) we recommend you use the DVD kit order option above," Microsoft notes on the Vista download and order page.
Perhaps most worrying is the inherent problem of Microsoft moving from a CD ISO to that of a DVD for Vista, which indicates it is the most bloated product the software giant has ever shipped.
Check out these download times for a glimpse:
Connection speed: Connection type: Approximate download time: 32-bit edition (3.5 GB) 3.0 mbps Fast Cable/DSL 4.5 hours 1.5 mbps T1 9 hours 768 kbps Cable/DSL 18 hours 256 kbps Cable/DSL 54 hours 64-bit edition (4.4 GB) 3.0 mbps Fast Cable/DSL 5.5 hours 1.5 mbps T1 10.5 hours 768 kbps Cable/DSL 21 hours 256 kbps Cable/DSL 64 hours
I am running Vista beta 2 (build 5384) after letting the download from MSDN run overnight. Yes, the interface is improved (kind of like Mac OS meets Windows), and you've got to love search at the OS level, but what is with this product's bloat?
Here we go again, too, opening the door for conspiracy theory that Microsoft is creating software that requires the latest hardware, boosting Intel sales.
Yes, the feature set may be great, but for Joe or Jane consumer, this is overkill. (I admit: I downloaded Ultimate).
I suggest Microsoft needs to put in some time on a true Windows Light version that will compete with Novell's SUSE desktop Linux, which some people in the office here think could be the one to take a bite out of the desktop market.
Certainly managers looking to stick with their hardware are going to think the time is right to start considering a more basic OS. I'm going to give the Novell desktop a run soon so will post my thoughts on it soon.
Is Microsoft just out of control with an OS this big? Is this Linux's big chance? Talk back to us below.
Posted by Mike Barton on June 12, 2006 03:12 PM
June 09, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Web-oriented architecture in focus
First, there was SOA. Then Web 2.0. And most recently, SOA 2.0. Now, Gartner is promoting a concept it has dubbed Web-oriented architecture.
"What we're trying to do at Gartner is, if at all possible, start to clarify some of the overlapping concepts and terminology around SOA and Web 2.0 and all that good stuff," said Nick Gall, vice president and Gartner fellow. He will present on Web-oriented architecture at the Gartner Application Integration & Web Services Summit, which begins on June 19 in San Diego.
The term, Web-oriented architecture, was coined to describe a subset of SOA that fits the architecture of the Web, Gall said. The concept features attributes of SOA, in which systems are modular, distributable and shareable, plus Web attributes such as URLS to point to resources, decentralization and the use of dynamic mediation for communication between two endpoints.
SOA is not necessarily synonymous with the Web, according to Gall. An SOA may feature old habits developed through the use of middleware or conventional, object-oriented architecture, he said. "What [users] end up with is an SOA that is more tightly coupled than the Web is," said Gall.
"To us, Web-oriented architecture is really just the architecture of the World Wide Web as it was originally designed," he said.
"What we're trying to highlight is the Web in Web services," Gall said.
A Web-oriented architecture enables development of systems that have the flexibility of the Web, he said. Companies such as Amazon, Google and eBay, with their public-facing Web services, provide examples of Web-oriented architecture, Gall said.
Posted by Paul Krill on June 9, 2006 04:32 PM
June 09, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Microsoft publishes Vista User Account Control pr0n
Microsoft has countered the rising chorus of whining about its planned User Account Control (UAC) feature in Vista with a new video that shows the new limited accounts in action. Ok, Ok. It's not exactly pr0n, but it is a not so subtle attempt to show the world that using Vista as a limited user won't be unbearably annoying.
The video starts with an introduction from Mike Nash, the VP of Security, which may be the last we see from him in a while. Nash is on a three month sabbatical from Microsoft and who knows if he'll return. (From his bio: "Nash joined Microsoft in 1991..." Nuff said.)Ben Fathi, former GM of Windows Server Division, is taking his place as head of the Security Technology Unit (STU).
Pay attention around minute 8 (if you can hang on that long in a video that doesn't show much more than a bald guy clicking around the Windows desktop.) That's where we get the UAC "happy ending:" a step through of December CTP of Vista, beta 2 and --hold on to your hat -- Release Candidate 1 (RC1)! Basically, in December CTP, you get prompted when you do anything -- view the keyboard or mouse configuration settings (don't modify them, btw), open the Task Manager, open MSN updater applications. In Beta 2, they get rid of most of that -- you can open Task Manager and view configuration settings for peripherals like the mouse and keyboard without having to enter admin privileges. In RC1? Steady yourself...You can open the Win Firewall to view status (but get prompted if you want to change configuration) and, you guessed it, delete desktop icons without prompts!!!!!
Check it out.
Posted by Paul Roberts on June 9, 2006 01:49 PM
June 09, 2006 | Comments: (0)
"A team from Google Research has developed a prototype system that uses a home computer's internal microphone to listen to the ambient audio in a room, determine what is being watched on TV and offer web-based supplemental information, services and shopping contextual to each program being watched," reports TechCrunch.
Okay, so the same week Google's Sergey Brin admitted to compromising its principles to appease Chinese authorities' over censorship demands might be a bad week to go into Big Brother zone.
Google said it addressed privacy concerns "by compressing captured audio on the user’s computer before transmitting summary data to the database for comparison and by offering a mute button in the program", TC writes.
Here are some of the tech's possible applications (from TC):
--Personalized information layers Here's what Tom Cruise is wearing in the show you are watching and here's where you can buy the same clothes in your zip code.
--Ad hoc social peer communities If you would like to chat about this show, ten of your college friends are watching it right now as well.
--Real-time popularity ratings Nielsen requires hardware and the results arent available in real-time. You might want to know if there is a spike in viewers watching the show on channel 9 right now. Advertisers might want to know that too.
--TV-based bookmarks Click to save a show or clip into your video library and there will be more than just a few shows available for watching later.
Sounds cool. But with AT&T spying case under way and fresh news that VOIP wiretapping has received the nod, this seems a little too Big Bro for the average consumer.
Would you test and use it in your home? Talk back to us below.
Posted by Mike Barton on June 9, 2006 11:50 AM
June 08, 2006 | Comments: (0)
BlackBerry addicts have a crack at freedom when they check into one Chicago hotel: the manager will put the communications devices and others like them under lock and key for guests who want a break, reports Reuters.
Okay, so I dragged this one out of the wire from yesterday, but it really struck a chord with me. I bought a BlackBerry 7290 and got my InfoWorld e-mail set up and ended up sending the Berry back to Cingular because I was no longer winding down on my train ride home with my eyes glued to a small screen. This after staring at a bigger screen all day for a living.
While Treos and Berries are still toted mostly by business people, what could happen to our youngish people if the BlackBerry meets the iPod design team to create the AppleBerry, as has been suggested is set to fruit.
Could we see a whole new detox trend for our troubled, tech-drunk youngins?
Talk back to us...
Posted by Mike Barton on June 8, 2006 12:06 PM
June 08, 2006 | Comments: (0)
SOA: Concept gains traction, lacks understanding
SOA is gaining in popularity even though many do not fully understand its concepts, according to a survey conducted by consulting firm Capgemini.
A survey of more than 1,000 attendees at the recent SAP Sapphire Orlando and SAP Sapphire Paris events found that organizations will on the average increase the percentage of applications run on SOA by 20 percent during the next three years. Chief reasons for utilizing SOA include innovation, compliance and the speed of change.
More than one-third of respondents, however, did not fully understand the concepts of SOA.
Top benefits cited from SOA include increased flexibility, lower software integration costs and better alignment of IT and business goals. The biggest obstacles include lack of understanding, difficulty in justifying ROI and a shortage of skills.
North American organizations expect to increase SOA adoption at a faster pace than in Europe, Capgemini said. Sixty-seven percent of North American respondents are expected to push for their organizations to run between 20 percent to 60 percent of their applications on SOA-based technology within three years. The same percentage of European respondents expect to run only as much as 40 percent of their applications on SOA.
Posted by Paul Krill on June 8, 2006 11:49 AM
June 07, 2006 | Comments: (0)
I was surprised in my conversation with Google Spreadsheet product manager Jonathan Rochelle that he was working out of Google's New York City development group. Err...New York City? Wasn't aware there _was_ a wing of the GooglePlex in the Big Apple. Turns out the answer to that question has a lot to do with where Google Spreadsheet came from. While much of the product development comes out of Google Labs, the guts of Google Spreadsheet is an application formerly known as XL2Web by 2Web Technologies which, unbeknownst to most of us, Google bought last year. There's not much out there on XL2Web, though eWEEK's Jim Rapoza did a fine write-up of the company's first release back in July, 2004. His review touches on a lot of the key features that Rochelle, formerly XL2Web's CEO, highlighted in his conversation to me and a lot of other journos this week: the impossibility of using and sharing spreadsheets online.
That's the main strength of Google Spreadsheet, at least for the time being: you can import your data from Excel, then modify it in realtime online and share it with others using your (free) Web browser. Of course, back then XL2Web wanted $100 a month to host spreadsheets, and $35,000 for "companies deploying a server internally for unlimited use." Now, presumably, the cost is $0. Thanks, Google!
The weaknesses? There are lots -- including an inability to work on your spreadsheets offline, and an inability to lock cells or worksheets when two or more people are working on a spreadsheet simultaneously, meaning the last one in wins when it comes to joint edits. GOOG's going to be working on that and presumeably a lot more, including links between all the different pieces they're putting together: mail, word processing, spreadsheet, collaboration, Rochelle said.
Stay tuned!
Posted by Paul Roberts on June 7, 2006 08:02 PM
June 05, 2006 | Comments: (0)
AppleBerry: The next big thing?
"Is the day near when you will get music on your BlackBerry and e-mail on your iPod?," Globeandmail.com asks.
The juicy little prognostication of an "AppleBerry" partnership between Research In Motion and Apple Computer "was floated yesterday by Peter Misek, an analyst with Canaccord Capital Inc., who last year accurately predicted a partnership between RIM and Intel," the site reports.
Such a deal would have huge merit because each company lacks what the other provides. RIM wants a firm foothold in the consumer market and Apple doesn't have a presence in the booming wireless data sector, he said.
Arstechnica has its take on the fruity combination here; and MacDailyNews writes: "AppleBerry certainly is more appetizing than BlackApple. Although, BlackApple is sort of cool sounding. (both names are already in use in various ways by various companies). And, no, we're not going to stoop to suggesting the combination of RIM and Steve's last name.
Read the digg entry for reader comments on the pie-challenged possible match-up here.
I say let the splicing begin because RIM as we know it is too business-centric, and Apple could bring some consumer charm to the next-generation of smart phone design. Others in the office say, why wouldn't RIM just go on a big consumer ad spree and do it alone -- what does Apple really bring to the game?
Talk back to us below.
Posted by Mike Barton on June 5, 2006 06:00 PM
June 05, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Identity thieves and the women who love them
I'm at the Gartner IT Security Summit where Richard Goldberg, chief of the Financial Institution Fraud and Identity Theft section of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania is giving a pretty interesting presentation on identity theft and identity theft rings. While we all like to think that the guys behind identity theft scams are shadowy hacking groups in Russia and China, the truth is that the average identity theft scam reads a lot more like an edition of "Ms. Lonely Hearts" than "The French Connection."
Women, it seems, are often the "trusted insiders" who provide identity information for ID theft ringmasters, who Goldberg calls "Concierges." The women are approached, often at bars, by identity thieves looking for easy access to personal data. "A guy comes up to you in a bar and asks where you work. If you say you flip burgers at McDonalds, he moves on. If you say you work at a Doctor's office, he'll offer to buy you a drink. Tell him you work at an insurance company, and he'll offer to buy you a lot more than that."
The women fall for the guy's charm -- or the free drinks -- and later for some hard luck story that gets her pinching customer or patient data for use in ID theft scams.
"There's a male female dynamic. The female is the insider, and the male is the scumbag," Goldberg said.
There are other people in the loop too -- a "Manufacturer" who produces fake IDs for the concierge and then, on the outside, legions of drug addicts who take the fake ids and risk getting caught using them to buy goods at retail outlets, which are then fenced by the folks on the inside. The best of these ID theft rings are sophisticated -- moving around from county to county and avoiding big hits to stay off the radar of local police, he said.
This all sounds like some bad stereotype from the 1950s -- "weak" and "vulnerable" women falling victim to wily, predatory men. This at a conference that will feature a panel featuring three senior female executives -- all chief privacy officers at leading corporations.
Goldberg has plenty of examples of good girls gone bad, and coaxed into helping with identity theft. But they're just anecdotal, and there are plenty of other examples that suggest that identity theft is a gender neutral activity.
But the large strokes in his portrait ring true.
Just last week, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington announced the sentencing of Thang Van Nguyen, of Garden Grove, California, to 54 months in prison for stealing $1.6 million in bank fraud using the stolen identities and bank account numbers of 90 different individuals, many of whom were Starbucks employees.
According to court records, the scam was fueled by information stolen by a Starbucks HR employee -- the trusted insider (yeah yeah yeah -- it was a woman.)Nguyen was a “driver” for the fraud group, ferrying others using false ID to banks around the country so they could deposit the phoney checks into accounts, then immediately withdraw the funds. Nguyen took a cut for himself and "concierge" Lam T. Pham. He'll be sentenced in July, the Starbucks employee on June 30.
Posted by Paul Roberts on June 5, 2006 07:47 AM
June 02, 2006 | Comments: (0)
President George Bush's home state of Texas will "enlist web users in its fight against illegal immigration by offering live surveillance footage of the Mexican border on the internet", reports BBC News online.
The report said:
The plan will allow web users worldwide to watch Texas' border with Mexico and phone the authorities if they spot any apparently illegal crossings...The Texas governor announced his plans for streaming the border surveillance camera footage over the internet at a meeting of police officials late this week.
The cameras will cost $5m to install and will be trained on sections of the 1,000-mile (1,600km) border known to be favoured by illegal immigrants.
Web users who spot an apparently illegal crossing will be able to alert the authorities by telephoning a number free of charge.
Are you ready to become Big Brother for the government?
Posted by Mike Barton on June 2, 2006 05:12 PM
June 02, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Fortress language demo is planned
Sun Microsystems on Friday plans to demonstrate the Fortress programming language, described as a general purpose, component-based language for building high-performance software with high programmer productivity.
The demonstration, which will feature implicit parallelism, is planned for an open house at Sun offices in Menlo Park, Calif. The name Fortress is derived from an intent to produce a secure Fortran, resulting in a language for high-performance computation that provides abstraction and type safety on par with modern programming language principles, according to a Sun research paper. But Fortress is a new language with little relation to Fortran.
Fortress is intended to be a growable language that can be extended and applied in new and unanticipated contexts.
Posted by Paul Krill on June 2, 2006 07:59 AM
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