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| Volume 9, Issue 8 |
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In This Issue:
 12 words you can never say in the office
Personal spy gear: Is it ethical? Legal?
The opposite of Twitter
 Cloud hype peaks, but IT concerns increase
Why private cloud will make IT think like Wal-Mart
Five lessons from Microsoft on cloud security
RIM's torch mobile deal: What it means to you
Microhoo: 3 reasons google should sweat it
 Why Apple is more valuable than Google
 Behind 10 eyebrow-raising App Store rejections
Jessica Biel most 'dangerous' celeb in cyberspace
 Review: Apple's Snow Leopard opens door to a fab future
 10 Windows 7 features to anticipate
 Beyond BlackBerry
 King of the Apple geeks (AAPL)
 Who's driving Twitter's popularity? Not teens
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12 words you can never say in the office
These outdated tech terms really show your age; we’ve put together a list of alternatives. Welcome to the world of cloud computing, the smartphones and the virtual desktop.
If you’re old enough to understand the reference in this headline—George Carlin, anyone?—then you’re old enough to need a refresher course when it comes to talking about technology. We’ve put together a list of outdated tech terms, phrases that you shouldn’t be using at work anymore because they will make you seem old. This is
especially true if you’re looking for a new job. For example, on an interview, you should be talking about "cloud computing," not "ASPs" even though they are basically the same thing...
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Personal spy gear: Is it ethical? Legal?
You can now hide a GPS unit in your family car and find out where everybody went. But should you?
These days, if you want to watch over your house, your kids or your significant other, there's a whole world of high-tech security devices out there you can use, in forms you may not have even imagined. There are tiny GPS data loggers you can slip into someone's car or backpack to learn where they're going. There are audio
recorders the size of flash drives that can listen in and preserve the conversations of others nearby. And there are surveillance cams in a whole assortment of motion-activated disguises, including facial tissue dispensers, alarm clocks, outdoor home electrical boxes, bird feeders and even soft, furry teddy bears. But
while it's easy to find and buy surveillance devices, is it legal and/or ethical to use them? Is it okay if you use them to watch over strangers? Is it reasonable to use them to watch and hear family members and loved ones? The answers can sometimes be murky...
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The opposite of Twitter
For anyone who complains that Twitter posts are too short to be meaningful, we present you with Twitter's exact opposite: Woofer.
While Twitter limits users to 140 characters per tweet, Woofer requires each post to have a minimum of 1,400 characters. Similar to Twitter, Woofer counts down the amount of characters you have input with a big number at the top right of the screen. But you're not allowed to post anything until you hit 1,400. Woofer calls
itself an homage to Twitter, but to avoid any legal problems makes sure to include statements such as...
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Cloud hype peaks, but IT concerns increase
How big is the cloud marketing challenge? CIO.com's newest survey of IT professionals on cloud computing shows fears regarding security, data management, TCO, compliance and vendor lock-in have only spiked since one year ago.
Apparently the everpresent cloud computing marketing messages aren't working quite well enough: Tech buyers still have major concerns regarding cloud-based benefits and security issues, many of which have not eased during the past year. That's according to a new CIO.com survey of 240 IT professionals involved in
technology-purchasing decisions. The June 2009 survey, "CIO On-Demand Services Survey," reveals that cloud computing fears regarding security, data management, total cost of ownership, regulatory and compliance issues, and vendor lock-in have
actually increased as compared with results from a similar survey in August 2008. When it comes to cloud security concerns, for instance, 51 percent of respondents...
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Why private cloud will make IT think like Wal-Mart
Public. Private. Hybrid. Cloudburst.
Much of the discussion about cloud computing focuses on deployment options and choices, with a surprisingly large number of enterprises inclining toward internal private clouds—that is, a cloud-capable infrastructure residing within a company's own data center. A just-published survey by Evans Data supports this trend,
indicating that 30 percent of developers (sample = 500) are currently working on projects that will run in private clouds (Important: the article notes that this is probably skewed, as the survey participants are self-selected). This seems quite high to me, given that the number of actual private clouds is pretty darn small.
However, one can design and build an app in a public cloud environment with the ultimate goal of hosting the app in a private cloud. In any case, the survey reinforces an anecdotal sense that enterprises are very attracted to the concept of
building and operating their own cloud. It's easy to understand the attraction of a private cloud:...
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Five lessons from Microsoft on cloud security
The software titan reviewed its security approach to cloud computing and developed new strategies. Here's what one Microsoft cloud expert says he's learned.
While Google, Amazon and Salesforce have gotten the most attention as cloud service providers, Microsoft—with its 300 products and services delivered from its data centers—has a large cloud bank all its own. In May, the company released a paper on its approach to cloud services and how the company plans to secure those services.
The paper—penned by Microsoft's Global Foundation Services, the group responsible for overseeing the company's software-as-a-service infrastructure—spells out the current dangers for online services, including a growing interdependence between
customers and the companies that serve them and more sophisticated attacks on Internet services...
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RIM's torch mobile deal: What it means to you
BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion's (RIM) recent acquisition of developer Torch Mobile suggests the BlackBerry's Web browser may soon be getting a much-needed makeover. That's great news for BlackBerry users--but it'll be a year or more before the fruits of the RIM/Torch deal reach the market. Here's why.
Ask BlackBerry power users for their number one complaint about Research In Motion (RIM) handhelds, and nine times out of ten you'll get the same answer: The BlackBerry Browser. RIM's BlackBerry browser ships along with all BlackBerry devices and is the "mandatory-default" web-browsing software for BlackBerry smartphones--you
can't set third-party browsers as the default...at least not yet. The problem, errr, problems? The BlackBerry browser is slooooow, to say the least...
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Microhoo: 3 reasons google should sweat it
Google's playing it cool, but CIO.com's Shane O'Neill points out several factors about the new search partnership that should make even Google nervous.
With the arrival of the Bing search engine and the Microsoft-Yahoo search partnership, it's been a hectic summer for search — not that you'll see market leader Google sweating. With a united front building against its cash cow search business, Google is playing it cool. Google CEO Eric Schmidt said back in June about
Bing: "I don't think Bing's arrival has changed what we're doing. We are about search, we're about making things enormously successful, by virtue of innovation." For the most part Google is ignoring Bing, at least publicly. Google has not made any outward strategic moves that imply worry about Bing or the Microsoft-Yahoo
partnership, other than to state that it's bad for innovation and competiion. Indeed, the Microsoft-Yahoo partnership will face the scrutiny of antitrust regulators and some experts question whether the partnership will be approved. But
if the partnership does pass legal muster, the search wizards in Mountain View will have...
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Why Apple is more valuable than Google
A look at what's behind the Mac and iPhone maker's now firm market-cap edge on the Web-search leader, and how it could one day challenge Microsoft.
Now that Apple (AAPL) has once again passed Google (GOOG) in market value, can the consumer-electronics maker maintain its lead? While Apple's capitalization has risen above that of Google for short bursts in the past, it has remained higher since July 22. As of Aug. 11, Apple was worth $145.87 billion, compared with Google's $143.40
billion. This could be a momentary shift in Wall Street's whims—like when Cisco Systems (CSCO) briefly surpassed Microsoft (MSFT) to become the world's most valuable company in 2000. More likely, Apple has more solidly unseated Google as tech's No. 2 powerhouse and is now on track to one day challenge Microsoft for the
crown. While both Apple and Google are likely to remain highly valuable in the coming years, there's reason to believe that Apple may outshine Google in the eyes of investors...
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Behind 10 eyebrow-raising App Store rejections
Frustrated programmers have highlighted what they believe to be double standards, strange policies, and flip-flopping among Apple's App Store guards.
Several developers whose applications have been rejected from the store, which hosts third-party software developed for the iPhone and iPod Touch, have published their correspondence with Apple. Apple's rejections of apps accused of infringing a patent or copyright make sense to most industry insiders. But some App Store rejections
have raised quite a few eyebrows. In an attempt to highlight--and perhaps make some sense of--a few of the more questioned rejections, I've compiled a list of those that caused me to scratch my head...
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Jessica Biel most 'dangerous' celeb in cyberspace
Through no fault of her own, actress Jessica Biel is now the most hazardous celebrity on the Internet.
Fans searching online for Biel have a one-in-five chance of hitting a Web site with malware, according to McAfee's third annual report listing Hollywood's most "dangerous" online celebrities. In general, hunting for Hollywood's in-crowd poses a much greater threat than searching for just about anyone else. For example,
President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama ranked No. 34 and No. 39, respectively. Other unsafe celebrities near the top of the cybersecurity company's list include...
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Review: Apple's Snow Leopard opens door to a fab future
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Mac OS X Snow Leopard offers a slew of hidden features and lays the groundwork for big advances to come.
Snow Leopard is Apple's latest operating system release, making this the seventh version of Mac OS X (eighth, if you count the two versions of 10.4 "Tiger" that bridged the PowerPC-to-Intel transition). On sale for $29 beginning tomorrow, Snow Leopard offers slimmed-down code, a smaller footprint and a raft of under-the-hood technologies designed to bring additional stability and performance. It also lays a strong foundation for the future. Nearly two years ago, in October 2007, Apple released Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) a full six months behind its original ship date. (Apple blamed the delay on the need to prepare for the launch of the first iPhone.) Leopard brought more than 300 new features and tweaks to Apple's long-evolving OS. With the release of Mac OS X 10.6 -- this time, Apple unveiled its new OS ahead of schedule -- Apple builds on the underlying technologies it began to unleash in Leopard. What it didn't do is...
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10 Windows 7 features to anticipate
Microsoft Windows 7, touted as an improvement on both Vista and XP, will include many changes to previous versions of the operating system.
In addition to fundamental improvements, such as programming tweaks that increase its overall speed, there will also be funkier adjustments, including eccentric new wallpapers. Microsoft is looking for a massive hit in order to validate a readjusted corporate strategy and boost its finances in the midst of a global recession...
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Beyond BlackBerry
Good Technology says corporate use of iPhones, Palm Pres and Android phones will ramp soon.
BlackBerrys have long been the corporate mobile device of choice. But mobile technology provider Good Technology says corporations are itching to adopt other smart phones like the iPhone, Palm Pre and handsets running Google's Android operating system. "There is a lot of pent-up demand for these new platforms," says
John Herrema, Good's chief marketing officer. That's bad news for BlackBerry maker Research In Motion ( RIMM - news - people ). "Even if RIM executes perfectly, it will still lose enterprise market share, because these other platforms are coming in," Herrema says. Change could come as early as this fall, when Good launches
software that enables IT departments to remotely...
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Who's driving Twitter's popularity? Not teens
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Kristen Nagy, an 18-year-old from Sparta, N.J., sends and receives 500 text messages a day. But she never uses Twitter, even though it publishes similar snippets of conversations and observations.
“I just think it’s weird and I don’t feel like everyone needs to know what I’m doing every second of my life,” she said. Her reluctance to use Twitter, a feeling shared by others in her age group, has not doomed the microblogging service. Just 11 percent of its users are aged 12 to 17, according to comScore. Instead, Twitter’s
unparalleled explosion in popularity has been driven by a decidedly older group. That success has shattered a widely held belief that young people lead the way to popularizing innovations. “The traditional early-adopter model would say that teenagers or college students are really important to adoption,” said Andrew
Lipsman, director of industry analysis at comScore. Teenagers, after all, drove the early growth of the social networks Facebook, MySpace and Friendster. Twitter, however, has proved that...
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