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Netflix: Outage, economy ding subscriber growth

Between the Lines by Larry Dignan

Netflix on Monday detailed its outlook for the third and fourth quarters, projected fewer subscribers than before and said its August outage cost it $6.5 million. The company said in...

• eBay doubles down on payments as it buys Bill Me Later; Lays off 1,000
• Yahoo: What happens if Google deal doesn't go through?
• The top five reasons why Windows Vista failed
• Crowdsourcing? Try expert sourcing

No company-wide hiring freeze (yet) at Microsoft

All about Microsoft by Mary Jo Foley

Is Microsoft slowing its seemingly never-ending hiring or actually putting a halt on it? It sounds like certain groups inside the company have been told to stop hiring, at least...

• Microsoft extends XP downgrade rights date by six months
• Zune services on Win Mobile = 'Pink'
• Live Labs kills Deepfish; suspends Volta downloads
• A new mystery: What's Microsoft got up its Office Live sleeve?

Dropping the iPhone NDA is good for security

Zero Day by Adam O'Donnell

Last week Apple lifted their NDA on iPhone developers, freeing them to discuss amongst themselves how to properly build applications. This decision is a "good thing" for not just applications...

• Cybercriminals syndicating Google Trends keywords to serve malware
• Well, I do actually worry (about mobile viruses)
• What, me worry (about mobile viruses)?
• Spammers attacking Microsoft's CAPTCHA -- again

Apple releases iTunes 8.0.1; Apple TV 2.2

The Apple Core by Jason D. O'Grady

Apple released iTunes 8.0.1 yesterday. The 58.5MB update includes the following: • Seamlessly plays the current song when creating a new Genius playlist. • Improves syncing spoken menus to iPod...

• Track the Presidential election polls with your iPhone
• Watch tonight's debate on your mobile; just not on the iPhone
• Obama campaign unleashes iPhone app
• A great reason to jailbreak: tethering

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

Improve your failed IT culture

IT Project Failures by Michael Krigsman

The underpinnings of IT failure lie in culture, the unspoken rules governing an organization's style and general priorities. Since most organizations pay little attention to project culture, it's not surprising...

• ZDNet editorial independence and blogging about politics [off-topic]
• Sarah Palin debate flowchart [off-topic]
• Stop brain-dead software testing!
• 14 ways IT screws up projects

Enterprise 2.0 and business collaboration

Enterprise Alley by Zack Whittaker

Update: I hit "publish" before the article was completely finished, so I've added some images and updated some links. I can't pull the post without it leaving a trail behind...

• Zoho Marketplace: awesome
• Zoho bitterness at the credit crunch...and a solution
• Startup essentials: Dr. Pepper, coffee and accessories
• Enterprise CRM "as in real life"

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

Mac ready for the enterprise?

Irregular Enterprise by Dennis Howlett

Larry Dignan makes a spirited argument as to why Apple should be working much harder on getting Mac kit into the enterprise. I know it's a Friday (afternoon for me)...

• Lawson Q109: 'sloppy execution'
• Agresso's answer to ERP addiction
• How SocialText is breaking the collaboration mold
• Ballmer needn't fear the Mac...just yet

Forrester: There's really no such thing as "green IT"

GreenTech Pastures by Heather Clancy

News flash. In a recent report called "Is Green IT Your Emperor With No Clothes?," market research house Forrester is advising IT managers to forget about the notion that there's...

• 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
• SAS invests big in green tech for Cary campus

Slimming down the bloated iTunes 8 installer

Microsoft Report by Ed Bott

How do you supersize a simple music manager? Ask Apple. The Windows version of iTunes 8 takes up nearly 200MB of space on a Windows PC, including kernel-mode drivers, multiple...

• 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
• Apple, not Gear, deserves the blame for iTunes crashes

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

Using space robots to fix ailing satellites?

Emerging Technology Trends by Roland Piquepaille

According to Canadian engineers at Queen's University, there are now more than 8,000 satellites in orbit around the Earth. Of course, if they stop to work correctly, these satellites will...

• Mimicking electric eel cells to produce energy
• Semantic guardians for our computers?
• Pterodactyl-inspired flying robots
• Liquid camera lenses controlled by sound

Obama launches iPhone app; US election good for Twitter

The Social Web by Steve O'Hear

The Obama campaign is hoping to turn Apple's iPhone into a political recruiting tool like none seen before, while Twitter usage and sign-ups received a healthy boost during last Friday's...

• 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
• Gphone and Android will fuel the social web

Sony announces new Reader eBook device with integrated LED and touch screen

The Mobile Gadgeteer by Matthew Miller

iRex announced new ebooks with touch screen functionality last week and now Sony just announced the Sony Reader PRS-700 with touch screen functionality. I still have and enjoy using my...

• 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
• Slingbox PRO-HD now shipping with HD streaming capability

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?

Data Processing scores big success! Linux loses, again!

Managing L'unix by Paul Murphy

When Canada's Do Not Call registery came on-line last week it was an instant success - well, it took a bit more than two years to issue the outsourcing contract...

• More on wikipedia abuse
• From Chapter Two: The appliance computing culture
• The open source opportunity in web advertising
• Nintendo and the Windows Mindset

The 'Social Media' Conundrum

Collaboration 2.0 by Oliver Marks

I'm fascinated by '30's depression era attempts to foster business innovation, not least because of the financial challenges that seem likely to dominate our coming years. Surprisingly I've found The...

• The productivity dilemma
• Budget season: shiny new collaboration models for 2009!
• Oracle's Mix Network, thoughts on remote conferencing
• Oracle's Beehive: integrated large scale, secure collaboration

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

BriefingsDirect Insights analysts examine HP-Oracle Exadata, 'extreme' BI, virtualization and cloud computing

BriefingsDirect by Dana Gardner

I think that Oracle is going to have a cloud offering, IBM is going to have a cloud offering, Sun is going to have a cloud offering, and it's going...

• 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
• Greenplum pushes envelope with MapReduce and parallelism enhancements to its extreme-scale data offering
• Interview: From OpenWorld, HP's John Santaferraro on latest BI Modernization strategies

Valleywag, Consumerist sites announce layoffs

The ToyBox by Andrew Nusca

A source close to Gawker Media informed me a moment ago that popular sites Consumerist, Valleywag and (NSFW) Fleshbot will may be shuttered will lose most of their editorial talent....

• Weekend Gadget Guidance: Find speed traps online
• Videos: Nokia 5800 touchscreen phone
• Gadget nostalgia: Five things I had and five things I have now
• YouTube debuts post-roll ads

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

Vudu offers new format to stream 1080p HD movies to its BX100 player

Home Theater by Sean Portnoy

As I mentioned in my post yesterday about Netflix, one of the obstacles video-streaming services are going to have to overcome is the quality of the files they're sending to...

• 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
• Slingbox PRO-HD starts shipping

Student Technology Day: Microsoft CEO's keynote speech

iGeneration by Zack Whittaker

As promised, I've uploaded the keynote speech that Steve Ballmer gave on Wednesday to a bunch of students at the Microsoft Student Technology Day. Although the recording isn't studio quality,...

• Student Technology Day: event photo's
• Student Technology Day: Microsoft Surface demos
• Student Technology Day: "Windows Cloud" revealed
• Student Technology Day: how to start a start-up

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

Stallman vs. the cloud computing tidal wave

A Developer's View by John Carroll

Stallman's recent statements regarding his dislike of "cloud computing" didn't surprise me in the least, given what I understand about his software preferences. In fact, I think this is less about...

• Jackson Browne and Copyright
• Thoughts on Microsoft Response Point
• SIP is the future of telecommunications
• The LHC and the importance of pure research

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!

California Governor Urges Silicon Valley Companies to go to Germany for Cebit

IMHO by Tom Foremski

California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was in Silicon Valley Thursday morning at Intel's HQ to make an announcement about California's partnership with the giant Cebit trade show in Hannover, Germany. California...

• 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
• Worth Watching: Steve Ballmer in the heart of Silicon Valley . . .

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

Solar market to reach $100 bln by 2013

IT Facts by AM

According to Lux Research, solar market will reach $100 bln by 2013. SHARETHIS.addEntry( { title: "Solar market to reach $100 bln by 2013", url: "http://www.itfacts.biz/solar-market-to-reach-100-bln-by-2013/11607" } , { popup: true...

• How online activities of broadband and dial-up users differ
• Who got traffic from Google and other search engines in August 2008
• Interest in switching to broadband among Americans in 2002, 2004, 2005 and 2008
• 51% of US small business owners say business conditions deteriorated

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?

Amazon, open the Kindle before Apple eats your lunch!

Community, Incorporated by Joe Brockmeier

Apple's iPhone is beating the Amazon Kindle at its own game -- what a shame. It doesn't have to be that way, though. Amazon could put the iPhone to shame...

• Linux Foundation launches new conference
• Lessons learned from five years of Fedora
• Will Apple help Android succeed?
• Mozilla: We goofed on the EULA, let's talk

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?

RealDVD sales suspended, case moves north

ZDNet Government by Richard Koman

A federal judge granted a temporary restraining order against Real, suspending sales of RealDVD, NewTeeVee.com reported over the weekend. Hollywood studios had sought the injunction as part of a...

• 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
• Election Talking Points: A discussion place

The viral theory of cancer

Healthcare IT by Dana Blankenhorn

It was hard for public health officials to get their arms around the idea that a virus could cause a cancer. Some still don't. But this is the message in...

• End the spectre of science for sale
• President Obama will take away kids cold medicine
• The bad news about Vitamin C
• Should health care rationing be binary or analog?