Between the Lines

Salesforce announces Chatter Mobile apps for iOS, Blackberry, Android

Just two months after making Chatter generally available, Salesforce today is announcing Mobile Chatter, apps for the iPad, iPhone, Blackberry and Android devices. In this first couple of months,...

• Is Symantec's decision to scrap live shareholders' meeting good or bad? [poll]
• HP: Mark Hurd is violating our trade secrets as part of Oracle
• Open thread: Will Google TV change your viewing habits?
• Skype builds out its channel as enterprise rollout continues

All About Microsoft

Microsoft Exchange Online users reporting more cloud access problems

On September 7, I began receiving notes from several customers of Microsoft's hosted Online Services -- which include Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Communications Online, Live Meeting and...

• Microsoft: Small Business Server 7 beta now due by the end of September
• Microsoft BPOS down for 90 minutes; second outage in a month
• Microsoft, Intel deliver new distributed/parallel tools
• Microsoft: Silverlight still has a future in an HTML 5 world

Zero Day

Barbers and security professionals

In this guest editorial, security research professional Michal Zalewski argues that the government should stay away from compulsory certification and licensing in the security industry.

• Google Chrome celebrates 2nd birthday with security patches
• Apple patches 13 iTunes security holes
• Malware hosted on Google Code project site
• Microsoft ships 'Fix-It' for DLL load hijacking attack vector

The Apple Core

iOS 4.1 on iPhone 3G - better than 4.0 (but not as good as 3)

iOS 4.0 proved to be so disappointing on the iPhone 3G that many users downgraded to version 3. Lifehacker compared 4.1GM to 4.0 on the two-generation old iPhone.

• iOS 4.1 coming this week; here's a feature list
• PowerPage Podcast Episode 143 (updated)
• Some spam with your Ping?
• iTunes 10 bug: wacky Sonix SN9C201 WebCam plug-in error (updated 2x)

Hardware 2.0

Radeon 6000 series photo leak

Chinese website Chiphell has leaked what it claims to be pictures of AMD's upcoming Radeon 6000 series graphics cards.

• PlayStation 3 software update breaks jailbreak
• The Duke is back - Duke Nukem Forever gets a release date
• First official Windows Phone 7 ad hits the web - "The revolution is coming"
• For the photographers out there - Toshiba debuts world's fastest SDHC cards

Linux and Open Source

Firefox 4 beta 5 lands

Firefox 4 beta 5 is now available and offers new hardware acceleration, multimedia and security features. The latest beta, for example, offers hardware acceleration through Direct 2D by default....

• The importance of open source gaming
• Google pits the law against its open source designs
• Open the airwaves to close the bandwidth shortage
• How IBM hopes to make the cloud proprietary

Googling Google

Android isn't surging just because Apple is letting it

Despite the superior user experience of the iPhone, Android has somehow gained a lot of momentum. I suggest it's not because iPhone is only available on AT&T, but because Android is the...

• Google settles Buzz suit for $8.5 mil; updates privacy policy
• Some music execs see bright future for Google Music
• Google Chrome turns 2: Can we skip the toddler years?
• Google launches Priority Inbox, the reverse spam filter

Ed Bott's Microsoft Report

Windows 7 Family Pack discounts return

Last year, in the run-up to the launch of Windows 7, Microsoft rewarded early adopters with a series of discounted upgrade offers. And then, as quickly as they appeared, those deals vanished. But...

• How much will a Windows 7 migration really cost?
• Paul Allen is no patent troll
• Fact check: malware did not bring down a passenger jet
• Microsoft's Phoenix takes flight (maybe)

Smartphones and Cell Phones

Have US wireless carriers gone mad? Samsung Fascinate crippled by Verizon

The promise of the Samsung Galaxy S on all four major US wireless carriers has been met, but did the carriers kill some of the experience we all hoped for with their customizations? The Galaxy S...

• MobileTechRoundup show #220; New Apple gear, Samsung Tab, Swype
• DataViz announces no webOS client coming, may have been acquired by RIM
• Windows Phone 7 reaches major RTM milestone
• How do you say closed in Finnish? Nokia shuts down yet another service

Tech Broiler

Where Are The Affordable Enterprise Online Backups?

Online backups are a great solution to off-shoring your data for security. But what do you do when your company can't afford it?

• Apple TV: You're a Glorified Roku
• Open Standard, Insert Foot
• Personal Computer Security: Using Uncommon Sense
• Apple, Google TV: Does Pay as You Go Make Dollars and Sense?

The Mobile Gadgeteer

Why I bought the new Apple TV

With a great price point, form factor, and futuristic feature set, the Apple TV was a no-brainer purchase

• iPad takes place of real instruments in orchestra
• Samsung takes on the Apple iPad with the 7 inch Galaxy Tab device
• Why buy an Apple TV when Roku players already do it all and more?
• Is Apple's new iPod nano the perfect geek watch?

The ToyBox

YouTube 'Life in a Day' project now live in gallery

Earlier this summer, YouTube commenced its "Life in a Day" video project. Now, you have a chance to see some of the 80,000+ results received in one eclectic gallery.

• Philips Home Control debuts sleek Dual remote control
• Samsung announces Orion 1GHz Arm Cortex dual-core processor
• Origin unveils 'dream machine' Big O gaming desktop: PC + XBox 360 = $17,000
• Samsung Fascinate (Galaxy S) comes to Verizon

Social Business

Facebook's remote log-out security feature: Should you care?

Tom Eston: Facebook is trying some new ways to innovate security, though it's still overlooking some other simpler fixes. Should you care about these new controls?

• 100 Brains: Thinkers and tinkerers in social business
• Fact or Fiction: Verifying claims of social media 'experience'
• Research: Google reaches malware milestone, while 'true' Twitter users increase
• Facebook passes 500 million: milestone or mildly horrifying? [Poll]

GreenTech Pastures

Is cheaper thin film solar on the way? Oerlikon touts production breakthrough

Swiss company Oerlikon Solar is trumpeting the development of a new "ThinFab" thin film solar production method that it says could drive costs down to around 70 cents per watt for new...

• Thinking micro about PUE
• Attention cheese-heads: Wisconsin e-cycling policy now in effect
• Ford's electric Focus to get 100-plus-mile battery range
• Coming soon: Sub-$1,000 plug and play solar

Laptops & Desktops

Asus, Eurocom, Maingear announce first laptops with Nvidia Fermi-based mobile graphics cards

Nvidia announced its new Fermi architecture for laptop graphics cards last week, and the first takers are now starting to provide details on their new GeForce GTX 400M-series notebooks....

• As AMD prepares Radeon HD 6000 graphics cards, is Nvidia ready to cut price on GTX 460?
• First Intel Sandy Bridge quad-core benchmarks: Nearly as fast as Core i7 980X, could make low-end graphics cards obsolete
• The first iPad challengers are here
• AMD developing eight-core Bulldozer-based CPU for 2011 release

Storage Bits

SiOx memory: how it works

The new memory is non-volatile, offers fast sub-100 ns switching times, can be written 10,000 times and is fully compatible with current CMOS manufacturing processes. A 1,000 bit proof-of-concept...

• Drive giants plan next gen tech
• Non-volatile DIMMs: immortal DRAM?
• Intel's doomed McAfee foray
• 3 bit-per-cell flash coming soon

Digital Cameras & Camcorders

Top 10 most promising digital camera releases this fall

There are a plethora of new digital camera releases this fall, and it could be an ordeal to sort through all of them. Following last week's round-up of summer announcements, here's a helpful guide...

• Panasonic intros 8GB and 16GB UHS-I SDHC memory cards
• Samsung HMX-T10 HD camcorder debuts with 20-degree slanted lens
• Canon rolls out XF105 and XF100 compact pro camcorders
• Sony S-Frame digital photo frame series boasts AVCHD video playback

Home Theater

Apple's new AirPlay feature to be supported by third-party speakers, AV receivers

While the whole world debates the merits of the new Apple TV, including my ZDNet colleagues here and here, Apple made another announcement today that could impact the home theater. By introducing...

• Netgear introduces NeoTV media streamer: Does it have any chance against new Apple TV, Google TV?
• Sony's SMP-N100 "Netbox": Netflix streaming, built-in 802.11n, DivX support for $129
• Sony announces three new Bravia 3D HDTVs, none cheaper than $3,000
• Samsung still leads in LCD HDTV shipments, with Vizio close behind. LG moves up, while Sharp dips further.

iGeneration

The future US President's Facebook page politics

The future President of the United States is on Facebook. It's almost a given fact. But with the potential for disaster in their chosen political career, will a shift in forgiving attitudes be...

• Mac vs. PC: Playing Russian Roulette at college
• Should public Wi-Fi access be 'free'?
• Next generation HD calls to hit UK mobile network
• Mapping the world's most popular software in users

Software as Services

Multi-tenancy: why you should care

SaaS buyers shouldn't settle for the limited horizons of single-tenancy. Multi-tenancy is the ideal architecture to make the most of the cloud environment, because it continually evolves to keep...

• Single tenancy, the DEC Rainbow of SaaS
• How T-Mobile nixed my summer roaming
• Unlocking Google's Lotus Notes opportunity
• Calling all cloud skeptics

Service Oriented

Geolocation a security credential? Something to ponder

You may not really care where your friends are, but you may care where that unknown end-user of your system is.

• Study: increase enterprise data usability, save billions
• Two good reasons for service-orienting healthcare systems, ASAP
• Yankee Group: Infrastructure as a Service now a bona fide cloud strategy
• How to survive your first day as CIO

BriefingsDirect

Process automation elevates virtualization use while transforming IT's function to app and cloud service broker

Automation, policy-driven processes and best practices are offering more opportunities for optimizing virtualization so that server, storage, and network virtualization can move from points of...

• HP eyes automated apps deployment, 'standardized' private cloud creation with integrated CloudStart package
• Platform Computing steps up with easy-entry solution for building private clouds
• Trio of cloud companies collaborate on new private cloud platform offerings
• Modern data centers require efficiency-oriented changes in networking with eye on simplicity, automation

Collaboration 2.0

Bill Kutik on HR Collaboration Options

A recording of a Skype conversation with Bill Kutik, the eminent independent Human Resources technology analyst who co-chairs the upcoming September 29 annual HR Technology Conference in...

• Distance Worker Mental Health Challenges
• Enterprise 2.0 Launch Pad - Get your Entry In!
• Online No One Knows You're an Expert...
• Covering your Social Tracks

Dev Connection

How to build the perfect Android tablet, part 3: Market watch

What's on your tablet? For the perfect Android tablet, you need the real Android Market.

• How to build the perfect Android tablet, part 2: A touch of class
• "I am not a villain," says alleged Android Trojan creator
• How to build the perfect Android tablet, part 1
• Why software patents are a joke, literally

A Developer's View

Shake-up at Microsoft: It's about time

Microsoft recently shook-up its Entertainment & Devices division in an attempt to jump start its device efforts and pose better competition to Apple and Google. Here are five suggestions as...

• How Microsoft loses the TV space
• Everybody hates browser applications
• Microsoft changes the Windows license
• Apple's play for platform dominance

Five Nines: The Next Gen Datacenter

After Facebook, what's next for Greenpeace?

Coal bad. Got it. But what about all the other energy sources used in the datacenter?

• The Containerized Datacenter; at the end of its 15 minutes?
• How does a new datacenter benefit the community?
• Does Geothermal Cooling Make Sense for your Datacenter?
• Random freeze problem chills Windows Server 2008 R2 / Windows 7

Emerging Tech

Brazil goes all-digital with 2010 census

Better known for its beaches and passion for soccer, Brazil also happens to be the world's second-leading open source country (just behind the U.S.) and boasts an IT services sector that rivals...

• Singularity Summit 2010: No place for human values in a 'posthuman' future?
• Researchers successfully create new semiconductor based on spintronics
• Fly corneas prove viable for biomimetic surfaces, i.e. solar cells
• Video trailers for next week's Siggraph 2010

Enterprise Web 2.0

Made on the Web, designed by us

With a new survey showing that the majority of people on the Web are willing to co-create, crowdsourcing is looking like a repeatable, reliable way to outsource work and partner with online...

• CoIT: How an accidental future is becoming reality
• Enterprise 2.0 and improved business performance
• When online communities go to work
• Webciety and Enterprise 2.0: A snapshot of today's social computing conversations

Tom Foremski: IMHO

Is Ellison trying to devalue HP prior to a bid?

Is Oracle using Mark Hurd to provoke HP? It looks that way...

• Could Hurd@Oracle mount a bid for HP?
• Loren Feldman is the jester in the court of Web 2.0...
• Loren Feldman is the jester in the court of Web 2.0
• The culture of Silicon Valley And Burning Man...

Virtually Speaking

Integrien AliveVM

I'm trying to dig may way down the pile of things that came in over the past few weeks while I was busy addressing myself to other issues. Integrien announced its AliveVM at VMworld and was...

• Virtualization: Critical component of hurricane planning
• Sychron launches OnDemand Desktop 4.2 beta
• VMware's Maritz virtually pronounces death of Windows
• VMware acquires Integrien, TriCipher for IT-as-a-Service Era

Irregular Enterprise

Questions for Oracle

Mark Hurd is now an Oracle President. The markets will likely be pleased but that still leaves open a large number of questions about strategy, acquisitions, Fusion, headcount...the list goes on.

• Hurd joins Oracle, Phillips resigns
• Oracle Open World 2010: confusion or clarity?
• Social CRM - another crock?
• Multi-tenancy vs. single tenancy: Looking beyond TCO

IT Project Failures

UK demands 'mandatory' reviews of government IT projects

The National Audit Office, an official UK watchdog agency, announced recommendations calling for "a central, mandatory system" of IT project reviews.

• Understanding Marin County's $30 million ERP failure
• Five analyst relations lessons from Workday
• Advice for working with analysts
• Twelve early warning signs of IT project failure

The Web Life

Dodocase: the best case for your iPad

When Apple releases a new product, there are a few companies that build accessories that far outperform Apple's accessories. Dodocase is no different. I had a chance to speak with Craig Dalton,...

• Ubercab: a step above the yellow taxi
• It's about time: Google kills Wave
• How to find out if your data is in the Facebook torrent file
• Why Facebook is better than Quora...or is it?

Forrester Research

Lloyd's Of London Takes Facebook To The Board

Lloyd's of London has made Facebook a priority for customer communications. Ted Schadler blogs on what you can take from it to empower your employees to solve customer problems.

• Dell: Ready to challenge HP and IBM for the high ground?
• AP's API Empowers New Media Through AWS And Azure
• How GlaxoSmithKline empowered IT staff to dramatic savings in PC energy costs
• Is Google powering its data centers with wind?

Social CRM: The Conversation

Rising Stars: Maria Ogneva on Scaling Social Media

A few months ago, I highlighted a few rising young stars in the SCRM world - a few 30s and younger who are not just making names for themselves - that's not that hard to do - but are providing...

• Sigh. CRM is NOT Dead, OK?
• CRM Evolution 2010 - A Retrospective - 28 Hours Old
• The Thing About Analysts - And PR/Marketing Folks
• SCRMish Thoughts - A Look Back at 1st Half of 2010

Software & Services Safari

Alliances, Referrals, Kickbacks, Reselling: Where's the independent advice in this?

Can you be a consultant and still accept referral fees from a hardware or software manufacturer? Can you do it if you disclose these monies? The answer depends if you are a consultant or a...

• Take my colleague, please!!!
• Part Two - Workday Technology Summit
• Workday Technology Briefing - part 1
• e-vites: An HR/Recruiting tool gaining acceptance

Lawgarithms

Muddling through privacy and the social Web

Chief privacy officers from Yahoo!, IBM, and Comcast, as well as CDT's public policy guru, weigh in on where things stand with privacy as social network usage becomes ubiquitous.

• Six things to know if your Facebook username has been squatted
• Napster and the "The more things change" rule
• Microsoft's Bing playing fast and loose with fair use?
• Video helps to quantify "fair"

The Semantic Web

Siri acquired by Apple; iPhone becomes the Virtual Personal Assistant?

Apple buys Siri, and brings real semantic smarts to Cupertino.

• David Siegel discusses the Power of Pull; a different view of the Semantic Web?
• Putting the Semantic Web to work in e-Commerce with GoodRelations
• Siri offers virtual assistance, with a little help from your iPhone
• Oracle delivers native support for Thomson Reuters' OpenCalais service

On Sustainability

Facebook Places rebuffed by eminent sociologist who inspired it

Facebook claim their service in general and in particular the new geo locations service Facebook Places helps to rebuild social cohesion and civic life in the public space. At the launch event...

• O2 launch handset eco index but Apple refuse to play ball
• Nokia Siemens Networks respond to Iran human rights abuses claims
• Nokia Siemens Networks sued by Iranian activist for human rights abuses
• Google to end serendipity (by creating it)

Team Think

How Software Can Turn Your Creativity into Products

A new trend in innovation management (aka ideation)  platforms  that I'm seeing I think will mark  the beginning of the next generation of our industry. With them you'll be able to  help your...

• San Francisco Saves $75,000 on Car Washing
• Using Reputation to Change Web Surfing Habits
• 4 Innovation Management Tools for Your Mobile
• Salesforce Makes Another Move

Managing L'unix

Unix vs Wintel/DP: the cost/benefit issue

An imaginary wall to wall Wintel/DP to Unix conversion produces what? Operating cost savings and a dramatic turn-around in IT organizational posture: from blocking force to business enabler.

• Tragedy: Waiting for the laughter to start
• Forces of nature
• Drones, arrogance, and fate
• Who does client-server serve?

ZDNet Education

Reader mail: To Mac or not to Mac

Can you justify the cost of the Mac for back-to-school or back-to-work needs?

• Will this year be different?
• Do we owe kids more than netbooks?
• X2 Development Corporation: Extraordinary Service? Yes indeed!
• Shmoop and Scitable leverage mobile platforms to reach students

ZDNet Government

Is China gearing up to start World War III?

America's relationship with China is a fascinating look at dysfunctional geopolitics.

• PlayStation 3 hack banned by court, but not before released into the wild
• With the new Apple TV, did Steve Jobs really just introduce a $99 Macintosh?
• Will the digital world be destroyed in 2012?
• How a mediocre iPad knock-off could foretell Steve Jobs' eventual doom

ZDNet Healthcare

Will health IT buyers focus on certification

Just installing a CCHIT Certified software package doesn't mean you've fulfilled meaningful use. You actually have to use it, meaningfully.

• Social networks change behavior through clusters
• Brokers try to pre-empt insurance exchanges
• How much next-generation health IT will be made in China
• CCHIT finally gets foot in ONCHIT certification door

Networking

Four ways to get the most from your 802.11n Wi-Fi

802.11n can give you really, really fast Wi-Fi... if it's set up right.

• Does Cisco buying Skype make sense?
• There will never be enough Wi-Fi bandwidth

Sponsored content

The DocuMentor

An Interview with America's Public Printer

You may not realize that every American President has the right to appoint an official Public Printer for the United States, who oversees one of the largest document creation and printing...

• The High Price of Low Integrity
• A New Sustainability Resource: The Paper Life Cycle Website
• Inkjet or Offset? How about Both.
• Document Services and Change Management

Sponsored content

UberMobile

The Biggest Enterprise Deployments of Apple's iPad Tablet (List!)

Looking for a comprehensive list of companies and organizations deploying or trialing Apple's iPad? You've come to the right place, my friend.

• SAP To Deploy Up To 17,000 iPads In 12 Months
• SAP Has Deployed 1,000 iPads To Its Employees
• Study Refutes Nick Carr, Shows Data & IT Do Matter
• Location-Based Apps - Not Just For Hooking Up Anymore

India IT

Nokia has a niche, it's the developing market

When talking about smartphones and the mobile market there’s always a joke about Nokia’s ability---or rather inability---to penetrate into the high-end segment that Apple dominates. But...

• Wink: India's alternative to the Kindle
• India finally emerging as an indigenous consumer tech manufacturer?
• IT progress in India is still stifled by people in power
• India gets another Supercomputer – Annapurna