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MozyPro for Mac goes public beta

Between the Lines by Larry Dignan

Online backup storage provider Mozy on Tuesday will roll out a public beta for MozyPro for the Mac, a new service for businesses using Apple's Mac platform. MozyPro for the...

• Yahoo: Shares dip to 5-year low; AOL deal this month?
• iPhone sales: 10 million yet?
• SAP: Business drop was 'sudden and unexpected'; Credit crunch hurt IT financing
• Netflix: Outage, economy ding subscriber growth

Microsoft starts sharing details on SQL Server 'Kilimanjaro'

All about Microsoft by Mary Jo Foley

Just a couple of months after releasing to manufacturing SQL Server 2008, Microsoft is starting to offer details about its next release of its flagship database. That product, code-named "Killimanjaro,"...

• No company-wide hiring freeze (yet) at Microsoft
• Microsoft extends XP downgrade rights date by six months
• Zune services on Win Mobile = 'Pink'
• Live Labs kills Deepfish; suspends Volta downloads

Talkback Tuesday: Mobile Malware

Zero Day by Adam O'Donnell

Last week I wrote two posts about why I was not concerned about mobile malware right now, but I expected mobile malware to become a problem in the near future....

• iPhone hits another security speedbump
• Dropping the iPhone NDA is good for security
• Cybercriminals syndicating Google Trends keywords to serve malware
• Well, I do actually worry (about mobile viruses)

Test drive: First checkpoint-friendly computer bag

The Apple Core by Jason D. O'Grady

Back in August TSA issued new guidelines for travelers with notebook computers that would, for the first time, allow passengers to keep them in their bags while passing through the...

• iPhone 2.2 features trickle out
• Eight ways to track your portfolio on the iPhone
• Apple manufactures 10M iPhones
• Apple releases iTunes 8.0.1; Apple TV 2.2

Linux laptops see 4x returns compared to Windows

Hardware 2.0 by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Do people who pay $299 to $399 for a Linux notebook suffer greater levels of buyer's remorse compared to those buying Windows machines?

• SEC investigating fake Steve Jobs heart attack story
• Apple shares fall below $100 ... again
• Fake Steve Jobs heart attack story pushes stock price below $100
• Put your PC on an energy diet!

Googling Google by Garett Rogers

Google launches new Spreadsheets interface Google has just rolled out a new version of Google Spreadsheets -- the last one of all three products in the Google Docs suite. I...

• Google releases Chrome 0.3.154
• Google Blog Search re-launches, now it's useful
• Google to go back in time?
• New Google tool called "Moderator" released

October promises to be hot month for Drupal, Mono, OpenOffice, Ubuntu

Linux and Open Source by Paula Rooney

October is promising to be a big month for open source releases. As the page on the calendar turned, Acquia launched of its commercially supported version of the popular Drupal...

• IBM and social networking
• FSF issues WorldLabel challenge for regular hack-a-thons
• Microsoft bad cop is up against the wall
• Our second Linux laptop has a real keyboard

Project tradition and IT culture [cartoon]

IT Project Failures by Michael Krigsman

Picking up on my post about failed IT culture, Oliver Widder has drawn another great Geek and Poke cartoon: Sadly, this cartoon describes the norm in many organizations, where projects...

• Improve your failed IT culture
• ZDNet editorial independence and blogging about politics [off-topic]
• Sarah Palin debate flowchart [off-topic]
• Stop brain-dead software testing!

Startups listen up: you've got a pricing problem

Enterprise Alley by Dennis Howlett

Just about every new product coming to market is being offered as a service rather than packaged software. But pricing remains something of a mystery. A while back, I started...

• Enterprise 2.0 and business collaboration
• Zoho Marketplace: awesome
• Zoho bitterness at the credit crunch...and a solution
• Startup essentials: Dr. Pepper, coffee and accessories

A Consumer Electronics Carol

Tech Broiler by Jason Perlow

I recently received a promotional email from a large Internet-based retailer that shall for the moment remain nameless (cough! Amaz-ahem!)  As I was considered to be a high-volume "Prime"...

• I'm Cookoo about Cucku Backup
• I... B... Wha?
• Should our President be computer literate?
• Android: It's not about Sex, Excitement, or Cool

SAP: first to hit the buffers

Irregular Enterprise by Dennis Howlett

SAP pre-announced its Q3 results at what could not have come at a worse time for the beleaguered stock market. Although executives were bragging about 4% growth in software sales...

• Mac ready for the enterprise?
• Lawson Q109: 'sloppy execution'
• Agresso's answer to ERP addiction
• How SocialText is breaking the collaboration mold

The color that shall not be named. AMD's Vertal downplays green credentials, plays up efficiency arguments

GreenTech Pastures by Heather Clancy

I realize Advanced Micro Devices has some news in the offing this week that likely will supersede the urgency of this blog's content, but I wanted to recount some high...

• Forrester: There's really no such thing as "green IT"
• Wind: A sound investment in unsound times?
• You can now purchase a technology trade-in plan when you buy a gadget from TigerDirect or CompUSA
• Greentech Investing: Not So Fast

Linux ready to replace Windows? Not yet…

Microsoft Report by Ed Bott

Is Linux ready to replace Windows on the desktop? Linux advocates think that light, cheap netbooks show off the advantages of an open-source OS over Windows. Out in the real...

• Slimming down the bloated iTunes 8 installer
• How to set up a new PC in one easy session
• How long will Microsoft support XP and Vista?
• TV Pack headaches reveal Microsoft's Media Center dilemma

Techies choose Obama - by a landslide

Storage Bits by Robin Harris

If techies could choose the next President, Obama would win in a landslide. Checking donors from 10 large tech companies, including Apple, Dell, Google and Microsoft, over 90% of the...

• How to read your FBI file
• Blu-ray ix-nay?
• Fast, tough pocket storage
• SanDisk's music-on-flash gamble - will it work?

Could Zoho outgrow Salesforce.com?

Software as services by Phil Wainewright

Within two years, Zoho expects to have more users on its CRM application than current market leader Salesforce.com. It may take a few more years to catch up with its...

• SaaS and the downturn
• BT bundles up SaaS for SMBs
• NetSuite parts ways with largest reseller
• Cloud rising

Apple lifts iPhone NDA to dull Android's edge

Dev Connection by Ed Burnette

Responding to a crescendo of criticism from the developer community, which saw books canceled, long time fans lose enthusiasm, and some calls for defections to Android, Apple finally relented Wednesday:...

• Google Gears now inside Android's "Chrome Lite"
• Google releases Android 1.0 SDK
• T-Mobile announces iPhone killer: G1 with Google
• How I dumped my DVR for a terabyte TiVo

Discovering Venice with a CINeSPACE device

Emerging Technology Trends by Roland Piquepaille

There are many existing services to help you to discover a city you don't know, but the EU-funded CINeSPACE project is quite unique. It combines GIS and semantic technology to...

• Using space robots to fix ailing satellites?
• Mimicking electric eel cells to produce energy
• Semantic guardians for our computers?
• Pterodactyl-inspired flying robots

LinkedIn and Xing set to benefit from downturn?

The Social Web by Steve O'Hear

One theory: LinkedIn, the social network for "professionals", could actually be benefiting from the downturn. That's because the site's value proposition really kicks in for those that have or fear...

• Obama launches iPhone app; US election good for Twitter
• Slide to distribute video on Facebook; Facebook to overtake MySpace in the US; Oasis launches new album on MySpace
• UK secret service recruiting on Facebook
• Madison Avenue to Facebook: you'll never be the next Google

MobileTechRoundup show #149, Netbook talk, WiMAX available, new phones in the house

The Mobile Gadgeteer by Matthew Miller

While we were recording MobileTechRoundup show #149 Kevin was able to swap out internal parts on his MSI Wind and is trying out for the Netbook pit crew. We chatted...

• Sony announces new Reader eBook device with integrated LED and touch screen
• First Intel MID now available for $699
• Sprint XOHM WiMAX service launches in Baltimore
• Run, don't walk, and pick up a REDFLY Mobile Companion for $199.95

Sony AW series: The best laptop display?

Laptops & Desktops by John Morris

With expansive 16:9 displays and Blu-ray drives, the new crop of desktop replacements with 18.4-inch displays are geared toward mobile entertainment. Though its design is nothing special, the Sony VAIO...

• The quad-core laptops are here . . . sort of
• HP's first 13.3-inch Pavilion vs. the competition
• Sony VAIO TT Blu-ray ultraportable reviewed
• First reviews of Toshiba Qosmio with SpursEngine

Busy week for Microsoft: Silverlight and jQuery

The Universal Desktop by Ryan Stewart

I'm traveling so I wasn't able to chime in on the availability of a Silverlight release candidate. One of the most important thing for developers is that it sounds like...

• Get your Flash on during the presidential debates
• Curl "Nitro" gets a beta 2 release
• Silverlight snippets from reMIX UK
• So wait, Firefox is a fax machine?

A question about web server volume failures

Managing L'unix by Paul Murphy

It's a shocking confession - I mean, I know how to use google - but I haven't found anything that really describes the nature and order of failures when a...

• Data Processing scores big success! Linux loses, again!
• More on wikipedia abuse
• From Chapter Two: The appliance computing culture
• The open source opportunity in web advertising

The Secrets of CEOs

Collaboration 2.0 by Oliver Marks

I just finished reading an advance US manuscript of 'The Secrets of CEOs - 150 Global Chief Executives lift the lid on business, life and leadership' by Steve Tappin, who...

• The 'Social Media' Conundrum
• The productivity dilemma
• Budget season: shiny new collaboration models for 2009!
• Oracle's Mix Network, thoughts on remote conferencing

First impressions of the Nokia N96

Smartphones and Cell Phones by Matthew Miller

The Nokia N96 was announced back at Mobile World Congress and I was able to get some hands-on time back then. I was just sent a Nokia N96-1 (European version)...

• fring lets you make Skype calls from your iPhone, available for free
• T-Mobile clarifies G1 Android pre-order availability and text messaging question
• Nokia Comes With Music service to give you all you can eat for free
• Nokia announces 5800 XpressMusic touch screen S60 device

Why bother with desktop virtualization?

Virtually Speaking by Dan Kusnetzky

The proponents of making proper use of desktop virtualization technology including access virtualization, application virtualization and VDI (the combination of access virtualization and processing virtualization) do their best to make...

• Microsoft Hyper-V Server
• Citrix desktop virtualization
• Accellion Secure File Transfer
• xkoto launches support for Microsoft SQL Server

Panel: How to sell SOA governance to a skeptical audience

Service-Oriented Architecture by Joe McKendrick

SOA governance needs more automation to reduce the 'chaos'

• SOA soon part of the 'cloud'? Hold that thought
• Silver lining 2: now may be the best time of all for SOA startups
• Silver lining 1: lousy economy would spur demand for IT architecture professionals
• Analyst: SOA governance stymied by lack of standards

With Systinet 3.0, HP broadens SOA governance role to encompass services lifecycle, business processes, IT service management

BriefingsDirect by Dana Gardner

The movement is to expand SOA governance, but perhaps more importantly, expand governance in general across more of what IT touches. Rules, roles, business context, policy, development-to-deployment lifecycles, operational...

• WSO2 eases enterprise data availability for SOA access, consumption
• BriefingsDirect Insights analysts examine HP-Oracle Exadata, 'extreme' BI, virtualization and cloud computing
• Improved insights and analysis from IT systems logs helps reduce complexity risks from virtualization
• Oracle and HP explain history, role and future for new Exadata Server and Database Machine

Blackberry Storm, 'Application Center' info leaked

The ToyBox by Andrew Nusca

Wow, a whole lot of Blackberry-related news surfaced this weekend. First, the user's guide to the highly-anticipated Blackberry Storm was leaked by the ever-intrepid BoyGeniusReport, who posted exclusive images on...

• Valleywag, Consumerist sites announce layoffs
• Weekend Gadget Guidance: Find speed traps online
• Videos: Nokia 5800 touchscreen phone
• Gadget nostalgia: Five things I had and five things I have now

Amazon sets up post-Photokina shop: Canon G10 and 50D now shipping

Digital Cameras by Janice Chen

In the calm after the Photokina 2008 storm, there's a lull in digital camera-related news this week, but Amazon is hoping to cash in on some post-Photokina camera shopping at...

• My Favorite Digital Camera Accessories at Photokina: the Lensbaby Composer
• New Digital Camera Announcements and More from Photokina 2008
• More details on Canon EOS 5D Mark II
• Canon finally announces 5D Mark II, as predicted

Hands-on review of the Logitech Squeezebox Boom

SOHO Networking by Sean Portnoy

After seeing my mildly skeptical post about the release of its Squeezebox Boom Internet radio device, Logitech offered to send me a sample unit to review, promising me I'd be...

• D-Link ships new Xtreme N Dual Band Gigabit Router (DIR-825)
• Netgear unveils new energy-efficient Draft N routers
• Samsung develops NaBee Wireless USB solution for digital cameras
• AT&T HomeManager: The future of home phones?

What memory technology is Samsung after?

The Core Truth by John Morris

Samsung Electronics recently made public its $5.8 billion offer for SanDisk, a major manufacturer of memory cards. There are plenty of possible business motives behind this bid including the hefty...

• Report: AMD to challenge Nvidia's $60 graphics
• About Atom: Intel's big plans for its little chip
• The news on Intel's Nehalem; chips with integrated GPUs up next
• Before Intel's big show, AMD launches an attack

CEATEC Roundup: Sony's 0.3mm OLED display, Sharp's solar-power TV, Panasonic's LifeWall concept

Home Theater by Sean Portnoy

While we all wait around until January for the Consumer Electronics Show, an event like CEATEC Japan can give us a taste of the future for home theater. And since...

• Vudu offers new format to stream 1080p HD movies to its BX100 player
• Netflix news: Starz catalog added to online service, streaming to PS3, Xbox 360 through PlayOn beta software
• New chip promises four separate HD streams over Wi-Fi
• 1080p HDTVs are a harder sell than you might think

ZDNet blogger: working from home

iGeneration by Zack Whittaker

More and more people work from home every day. Not only that, more and more people don't work from their offices, or "where they're meant to work". With the Internet,...

• Student Technology Day: Steve Ballmer Q&A
• Student Technology Day: Microsoft CEO's keynote speech
• Student Technology Day: event photo's
• Student Technology Day: Microsoft Surface demos

eBooks: The first step of a long change

Rational Rants by Mitch Ratcliffe

After polling all of you about the right price for an eBook device and the kinds of documents you are buying, as well as doing a lot of research over...

• Inner8.com launches: Here are 100 early access invites to new stock site
• LHC, Genomics and the era of massive data sets
• Social design advice for Starbucks
• Microsoft builds $300M cathedral to Bill Gates, hires Jerry Seinfeld as Pope

The WOA story emerges as better outcomes sought for SOA

Enterprise Web 2.0 by Dion Hinchcliffe

Over the summer the enterprise IT blogosphere was swept up in a conversation around the concepts that many are calling Web-Oriented Architecture, or WOA. A different way to think about...

• Ten leading platforms for creating online communities
• Are we ready to declare the "time of death" for the enterprise data center?
• Enterprise cloud computing gathers steam
• Twelve best practices for online customer communities

Mono 2.0...why not Microsoft?

A Developer's View by John Carroll

The release of Mono version 2.0, the open source implementation of .NET that is available for use on Mac, Linux and Windows platforms, is an achievement in itself. I often...

• Stallman vs. the cloud computing tidal wave
• Jackson Browne and Copyright
• Thoughts on Microsoft Response Point
• SIP is the future of telecommunications

Oracle's Second-Ever Hardware Product: In the Beginning, There Was The Network Computer

Enterprise Anti-matter by Joshua Greenbaum

Larry Ellison can be forgiven for sometimes making a mistake, particularly when it comes to marketing new, or not so new, concepts. His statement yesterday that Oracle was unveiling its...

• Oracle, the Innovation Company: Core Innovation, Fusion Applications' Debut, and Why It’s All Up to AIA
• Léo Apotheker’s Leadership Opportunity: SAP At the Crossroads
• Microsoft Dynamics Goes for the Mid-market (Again)
• Get A Clue, Google: Your EULA Policies Stink!

Bill Gates Leaving Might Help Mend Silicon Valley Fences

IMHO by Tom Foremski

Here is a short clip from CNET of a tearful Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, telling employees to personally thank Bill Gates for the opportunity to work at Microsoft and...

• California Governor Urges Silicon Valley Companies to go to Germany for Cebit
• California governor: Silicon Valley Should Go to Germany
• Sustainability is big concern for mobile telcos says head of Orange Mobile
• Ballmer says MSFT not immune to financial crisis

Intel Tops Dow Jones Sustainabilty Index (again)

On Sustainability by James Farrar

The Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) results for 2008 are out, and although I’m not a huge fan of corporate sustainability beauty pageants, this one is probably the most credible...

• Vodafone's Big(ish?) Adventure
• HP CSR Report: A Triumph for Transparency (but back slides on blogging)
• What is a sustainable business anyway?
• Edelman on Sustainability Reporting: Call in the PR Pros

Jennifer Leggio unpacks demand letter over "branded community"

Lawgarithms by Denise Howell

Over at ZDNet's Feeds, Jennifer Leggio walks us through a cease and desist email she recently received. The email suggested her blog's use of the term "branded community" might...

• Care to spend your holiday weekend policing directory listings?
• Overly restrictive A.P. quoting guidelines risk winning battles at the war's expense
• Section 230 to Twitter and others: Delete away
• Stanford Information Law Symposium

30% of iPhone 3G buyers switched to AT&T from other carriers

IT Facts by AM

30% of US consumers who purchased Apple iPhone 3G in the summer of 2008 switched from other mobile carriers to join AT&T, the exclusive mobile carrier for the iPhone in...

• 46% of social networking users visited mobile social networks
• Semiconductor sales up 5.5% in August 2008
• Solar market to reach $100 bln by 2013
• How online activities of broadband and dial-up users differ

Why You Want WebEx Connect or Beehive

Team Think by Dave Greenfield

First there was Notes and then Exchange. This week the collaboration suite space got a lot more competitive with both Cisco and Oracle introducing new collaboration suites.  This morning...

• Immersive Cocoon: The Answer for the 3-D Internet?
• 411 and DNS: A Global SPAMbase?
• Are browsers the answer for the 3-D Web?
• Eight pitfalls of predictive markets

Click Heels 3 Times and Say 'I want to IPO, I want to IPO'

Software & Services Safari by Brian Sommer

Alas Liquidity Events, I Knew Them Well.... If only wanting a liquidity event and getting it were that easy. As we say back in Texas, “'wantin’ and ‘gettin’ are two...

• Accounting vs. Technology - Who's At Fault
• Quit Spinning - You're Making Me Dizzy
• Marketing 101 for Tech Vendors
• Americans Hate Flying - Consultants Must Really Loathe It

Citizen journalism might try to kill you

Feeds by Jennifer Leggio

The expansion of social media and "blogs" has created more avenues by which we can all communicate, which is great. However, it's also created more opportunities for error.

• Webcaster Settlement Act of 2008 passes; Pandora to continue royalty negotiations
• A call to arms for radio fans: Pandora needs you now
• Social media fuels 'Security Twit' road trip
• Twitter's Election 2008 - more than a mashup; it's a revenue model

Five unfortunate ways the financial crisis affects your daily grind

The IT Grind by Deb Perelman

By now, you're probably up to your eyeballs in unsettling economic crisis news. The stock markets, tanked. Mondays $700 billion Hail Mary of a bailout plan, dead on arrival (though...

• Wired workers never catch a break
• My Awesome IT Job: Vice President of Security, SuccessFactors
• The price of a pink slip
• Ever wish you could fire your IT boss?

You get what you pay for: Paid contributors drive open source

Community, Incorporated by Joe Brockmeier

What's the difference between a paid contributor to a FOSS project and a volunteer contributor? According to a paper by Evangelia Berdou, quite a bit. Berdou finds that paid developers...

• Amazon, open the Kindle before Apple eats your lunch!
• Linux Foundation launches new conference
• Lessons learned from five years of Fedora
• Will Apple help Android succeed?

Live: Mashable Monthly

The Web Life by Andrew Mager

6:30 p.m. The blogger lounge is loaded with pizza, cupcakes, and Fiji water. Pete Cashmore's sending off party is hosted at Roe in San Francisco, and the place is...

• Turn Facebook into English Pirate mode
• Twitter has a new look
• Bear Hug Camp: a microblogging meetup
• Inspiration from an Internet entrepreneur

Welcome to the Data Cloud ?

The Semantic Web by Paul Miller

'The Cloud' is increasingly prevalent in tech conversation these days. Stalwarts of the space such as Amazon and Salesforce go from strength to strength, whilst titans of an earlier model...

• Truevert stands on Yahoo!'s shoulders; learning to search for Green issues
• Washington Times amongst newspapers putting semantic technologies to work with help from Inform Technologies
• New report places Semantic Web 'On the Cusp' of something big
• Semantic Technology's place in the enterprise; key, but low-key ?

Why The Big Fuss Over Microblogs?

Forrester Research by Gil Yehuda

I microblog.Why? The truth is, I learn by doing and by speaking with others who do. So I dabble with Twitter, Plurk, Pownce, Spoink, Rakawa, Tumblr, Utterli, Yammer, FriendFeed, 12seconds,...

• HP Acquires LeftHand Networks, Virtualized iSCSI Storage Vendor
• iPhone + Lotus Notes = Opportunity + Annoyance
• Xohm Unveiled In Baltimore, not BAWA
• Cisco's Stepping Up To Collaboration As Business Transformation

The cloud finally comes to education

Education IT by Christopher Dawson

Cloud computing is one of those great buzzwords in IT that, so far, has meant very little to the average Ed Tech customer. We all have a pretty good idea...

• And the calculator saga continues
• To ESped or not to ESped
• My growing hatred for calculators
• What if there was educational content for the Nintendo DSi?

Hollywood to kids: Pay up for preschool movies

ZDNet Government by Richard Koman

The scene: An Irish preschool for toddlers. The children sit on the floor in a semi-circle, watching a TV screen. They squeal with delight at "The Little Mermaid," "Toy Story"...

• RealDVD sales suspended, case moves north
• Copyright Board's ringtone decision shows failure of the system
• SEC investigating false rumor on Jobs' health
• Sen. Kohl: Justice should look closely at Yagoogle deal

The ultimate earmark in Wall Street bailout

Healthcare IT by Dana Blankenhorn

There is no clear line in mental health leading from diagnosis to cure, as there is in physical health. A patient must accept the need for a cure, or the...

• The viral theory of cancer
• End the spectre of science for sale
• President Obama will take away kids cold medicine
• The bad news about Vitamin C