Product Review Blogs
Top-rated reviews of the week
Gallery: Here's our weekly roundup of the new products ZDNet Reviews liked best.
- Robert Scoble: 'No bigger week for Nokia' than this one
- Study: Cell phones distract drivers more than passengers do
- Netgear readying Digital Entertainer Elite EVA9000 media-streaming device
- Holiday Gift Guide 2008: Portable digital video players
- Dell gets a jump on Black Friday, a $389 desktop with 20-inch LCD
Operating Systems
How to switch to desktop Linux
Christopher Dawson: A reader's challenge: Make a list of everything that would be required to do to switch a personal laptop from XP to Ubuntu, while maintaining, as much as possible, their usual behavior.
Companies
Apple retail stores to match prices
Jason D. O'Grady: In a surprising move for the consumer electronics turned retail heavyweight, Apple has internally announced that retail store employees can match prices of other authorized retailers.
Security
Virus swamps Afghanistan military base
Adam O'Donnell: Earlier this month we saw the military ban the use of USB drives and other removable media due to a virus that hit 75 percent of systems on a military base.
IT Management
Keeping clean for clean energy
Heather Clancy: Got solar panels on your home or business? Keeping them clean is necessary if you want to get efficient conversions of solar to electricity or even to heat water.
Enterprise Hardware
Shopping - How do you do it?
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes: Are you the kind of person who loves hitting the shops and buying Christmas gifts from brick and mortar retailers, or do you prefer to do your shopping via the web browser.
General News
Smart and interactive textile structures
Roland Piquepaille: Let's look at the work of Lena Berglin, a Swedish PhD student who is creating multifunctional textiles based on smart materials.
Enterprise Software
Virtualization and Emulex
Dan Kusnetzky: It would seem wise for organizations to determine if their servers and storage systems have the capability of supporting the larger requirements of a virtualized environment before signing on the dotted line.
Web Technology
Firefox and Vista break 20 percent
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes: According to NetApplications, the U.S. presidential election helped Firefox break the 20 percent user barrier while IE dipped below 70 percent.
Communications
Holiday Gift Guide 2008: GPS personal navigation devices
Matthew Miller: Some cars have them integrated, but for the rest of us we can now buy one priced from $100 to $300 and be completely satisfied with the experience.
Palm: On track to become a historical footnote
Between the Lines by Sam Diaz
Remember when Palm - maker of the Pilot and Tungsten PDAs and later the Treo smartphone - was the dominant player in the handheld device business? Today, it's a completely...
Microsoft puts more muscle behind its potential 'Kumo' search brand
All about Microsoft by Mary Jo Foley
After a weekend of "it's on-again/no it's not" rumors regarding Microsoft doing some kind of search deal with Yahoo, it's worth noting the Redmondians are still pushing ahead with their...
AlertPay hit by a large scale DDoS attack
Zero Day by Dancho Danchev
Timing is everything. Millions of account holders at privately owned online payment gateway AlertPay.com weren't able to do business through the service yesterday, due to the fact that AlertPay was...
The Simpsons lampoon Apple
The Apple Core by Jason D. O'Grady
No one is safe from satire on The Simpsons. The animated series, which just began its 20th season, has lampooned just about every large company, celebrity and pretty much every...
WARP speed for Windows 7
Hardware 2.0 by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes
The other day the eagle-eyed Long Zheng noticed a document on Microsoft's MSDN site outlining how Microsoft plans to allow DirectX 10 acceleration on the CPU.
Your guide to disabling SearchWiki
Googling Google by Garett Rogers
SearchWiki is one of those features that should really have a built-in mechanism for disabling it. Many people are finding the new feature a bit annoying which makes me think...
Openbravo to push open source ERP more aggressively in US
Linux and Open Source by Paula Rooney
One open source project is giving thanks for reaching the one million download milestone and believes the worldwide financial crisis will only accelerate its growth. Openbravo, a purveyor of a popular open...
Former inmate accused of hacking prison IT
IT Project Failures by Michael Krigsman
Federal authorities charged a former inmate with successfully breaking into prison computer systems and stealing identity information on prison personnel. It can happen to you too.
Enterprise 2.0 solution reduces email abuse
Enterprise Alley by Zack Whittaker
We now live in a day and age where we can expect to get dozens, if not hundreds of emails a day. Most of these you'll find are replies and...
Why Grandma Sandy and Aunt Roz don't want an HDTV for Christmas
Tech Broiler by Jason Perlow
Answer: Rectangular peg, Square Hole. With the prices of HDTV's plummeting, one would think that people would be rushing to buy new sets, particularly with the analog TV mass-extinction...
Breaking: SAP User Group fires CEO
Irregular Enterprise by Dennis Howlett
The American SAP User Group is understood to have fired Steve Strout, the organization's first full time CEO. Sources close to ASUG say that an email was sent by the...
Using TREES to save the forest
GreenTech Pastures by Heather Clancy
Lots of green building news bouncing around in the past few weeks, which simultaneously disheartening and heartening because of the state of the real estate market. The biggest deal, perhaps,...
Why the new Zune Pass should be irresistible
Microsoft Report by Ed Bott
The music industry has been stumbling and bumbling with subscription-based music services for years. This week, Microsoft announced a sweeping change to its Zune Pass music servicewhich gives you the...
Apple's new Macbooks: flop or fiasco?
Storage Bits by Robin Harris
The news that Apple has cut Macbook production by 20-30% may not be surprising given the world economy. But when HP reports that their Q3 notebook revenue grew 26% and...
When to spend cash in a SaaS business
Software as services by Phil Wainewright
Revealed: the magic formula that helped enterprise web analytics provider Omniture sustain rocketing growth, dwarf its competitors and become the second-largest listed pureplay SaaS provider in the US
The case for Scala
Dev Connection by Ed Burnette
Programming languages are like screwdrivers for developers. One size does not fit all, so good programmers keep several in their tool belt. The problem is, new languages are coming out...
Supercomputers help design better golf balls
Emerging Technology Trends by Roland Piquepaille
Researchers are using supercomputers to create new balls that will improve the game of avid golfers by flying farther. They've used the supercomputers at Arizona State University to simulate the...
MySpace comes to Blackberry
The Social Web by Steve O'Hear
It was only a few days ago that I noted how Facebook and social networking as a whole is fueling the mobile web. And news comes today that RIM have...
Holiday Gift Guide 2008: Portable digital video players
The Mobile Gadgeteer by Matthew Miller
A couple days ago I posted my Holiday Guide for MP3/audio players and a couple of commenters asked where ARCHOS and Cowon were on the list. I tried to stay...
Dell gets a jump on Black Friday, a $389 desktop with 20-inch LCD
Laptops & Desktops by John Morris
Dell is getting an early start on Black Friday. The company has been running daily specials at www.dell.com/everyday for some time, and there have been some good deals on consumer...
The widget conundrum
The Universal Desktop by Ryan Stewart
There's a pretty good article in Advertising Age about the benefits of widgets and the fact that not a lot of people are using it. AdAge says that "entire segment"...
Some seriously good advice from "Narg"
Managing L'unix by Paul Murphy
Last week's discussion of the lawsuit launched in honor of an IT mis-judgment brought a piece of remarkably good advice from a comment writer - not all problems, he said,...
The Paparazzi Social Media Problem
Collaboration 2.0 by Oliver Marks
Jevon McDonald, someone whose opinions I rate highly, has posted a stellar piece on 'The uncertain future of Blogging' today. The idea of user-generated content was once almost exclusively...
Holiday Gift Guide 2008: Feature phones
Smartphones and Cell Phones by Matthew Miller
I've now given you a Holiday Guide for smartphones and free cellphones so this Guide presents the best of the devices that are commonly called feature phones. With the power...
Virtualization and Emulex
Virtually Speaking by Dan Kusnetzky
Although I wouldn't have thought of Emulex and virtualization technology at the same time, a conversation with the company changed my viewpoint. How did Emulex achieve the improbable? Read on....
Harvard Business Review warns against 'sloppy thinking': does this apply to SOA?
Service-Oriented Architecture by Joe McKendrick
Is SOA just the latest bandwagon nobody wants to miss -- or something deeper?
Interview: HP’s Tim Hall on heightening roles of governance in SOA, cloud and managing dynamic business boundaries
BriefingsDirect by Dana Gardner
SOA governance heightens the business benefits of services, increases IT efficiency returns, and reduces the risk that complexity could undermine the services lifecycle in large organizations. Services governance also sets...
- Enterprises can leverage cloud models and manage transition risks using service governance, says HP
- Clickability offers enhanced Web content management through SaaS media service cloud
- Changing business landscape makes identity and access management key to IT security
- SOA, BPM cozy up to desktop with TIBCO, OpenSpan partnership
Robert Scoble: 'No bigger week for Nokia' than this one
The ToyBox by Andrew Nusca
Robert Scoble (of Scobleizer fame) is in Barcelona, Spain for Nokia World, a week where Nokia talks to its top customers, and according to him, there is no bigger week...
Holiday Gift Guide 2008: The best digital cameras under $200
Digital Cameras by Janice Chen
Okay, let's get real. A lot of us are just not going to be ready, willing or able to plunk down $500 on a digital camera this holiday season, no...
Netgear readying Digital Entertainer Elite EVA9000 media-streaming device
SOHO Networking by Sean Portnoy
One of Netgear's new products that it may announce at CES in January has leaked online, and it adds another networked media-streaming device to an already crowded field. The Digital...
Surveys show consumers love HDTVs, but show some confusion about HD programming
Home Theater by Sean Portnoy
Two recent research studies have found that the demand from U.S. consumers for HDTVs hasn't slackened despite the tough economy, but confusion remains about what you do with the TV...
Wired vs. wireless - security vs. speed
iGeneration by Zack Whittaker
Once again, this opinionated jackass dives in head first, looking at the next generation of networking and whether wireless technology will ever overtake Ethernet.
Thanks to Google, writers' lives may be even more thankless, unless....
Rational Rants by Mitch Ratcliffe
The announcement that Google has settled its book scanning lawsuit with The Author's Guild raises all sorts of hopes for digital use of new and previously published books. But without...
Open APIs reach new high water mark as the Web evolves
Enterprise Web 2.0 by Dion Hinchcliffe
Late last week an important milestone for the Internet was quietly reached as the number of available open Web APIs crossed the 1,000 mark, according to the popular API tracking...
Going back to Windows Media Center
A Developer's View by John Carroll
I'd been using Media Center as my primary DVR since shortly after the release of Windows Vista several years ago. At the time, my intention was to learn more about...
See You in the Cloud
Enterprise Anti-matter by Joshua Greenbaum
This post marks the end of my relationship with ZDNet -- though not the end of my blogging career by a long shot. I'll still be blogging -- can't seem...
Shipping news: Globalization halted by credit crisis
IMHO by Tom Foremski
DK Matai, chairman of the ATCA Open has written a very interesting article about global shipping of bulk cargo and how it has come to a halt because of the...
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...
Barack Obama is male, taken, and CC licensed
Lawgarithms by Denise Howell
While John McCain recently complained about Google's application of the DMCA, Barack Obama has been quietly employing a Creative Commons license for his Flickr photostream.
Top 50 US ad carriers in October 2008
IT Facts by NB
Rank Property Audience, 000 Reach 1 Platform-A 173,713 91% 2 Yahoo! Network 164,080 86% 3 Google Ad Network 158,928 83% 4 ValueClick Networks 155,356 82% 5 Specific Media 150,176...
Nortel’s Loss, Good News for the Enterprise
Team Think by Dave Greenfield
As I was reading about Nortel’s rerun today, I was thinking that there might be a silver-lining in all of this for enterprise folk. The bad news, of course,...
Would you lie to get your project funded?
Software & Services Safari by Brian Sommer
83% of cost/benefit analysis supporting IT proposals is a fiction I was reviewing an academic manuscript, Managing the Realization of Business Benefits from IT Investments (published in (MIS Quarterly Executive,...
Social media marketing opportunism during tragedy = fail
Feeds by Jennifer Leggio
If your company is considering trying to take advantage of the brewing conversations about Mumbai on social networks to squeeze in news about your company -- don't.
The most slacking-est time of the year
The IT Grind by Deb Perelman
Is this what your office looks like from November to January?Statistically speaking, you're not doing any work today -- or so poll after poll out this time of year about...
Talking with Likewise on GPLv3 and community management
Community, Incorporated by Joe Brockmeier
I've been watching Palamida's tracking of GPLv3 (and LGPLv3) adoption over the last year with interest. It looks like adoption is moving at a reasonable, if not super-speedy, pace. However,...
A live, more interactive Rev3
The Web Life by Andrew Mager
Television and the Internet are on a collision course that will revolutionize entertainment, but Revision3 is always one step ahead of the game. Today, they launched a new live video...
Hapax CEO recognises importance of shared infrastructure moving forward
The Semantic Web by Paul Miller
I had an enjoyable conversation with Mark Redgrave recently, ahead of his company's unveiling of their 'meaning platform,' Amplify. Mark is CEO of London-based Hapax, a company that has been...
Two paths for information management pros in an economic downturn
Forrester Research by Matthew Brown
There's nothing like an economic downturn to catalyze change in information management (IM) strategies. Someone asked me recently, "Isn't information management a discretionary spend that will likely get cut in...
Just what does it take to switch to desktop Linux (part 1)?
Education IT by Christopher Dawson
Last week, when I asked "Are you sure you don't just want to use Ubuntu?" I received a record number of talkbacks, good, bad, and in between. One of the...
Mom wants Drew to serve the max - three years and $300,000
ZDNet Government by Richard Koman
Tina Meier, the mother of the girl who killed herself in the 'MySpace suicide,' wants the woman convicted of computer fraud in the affair sentenced to the maximum. But Lori...
CRM 2009 Forecast - Part 1 -Sticking My Neck Out
CRM by Paul Greenberg
(8)Mobile CRM will be in increasing demand by sales organizations in particular - and vendors will continue to invest in it, downturn or not (6)There is a divergence of interest...
To CCHIT or not to CCHIT is the question
Healthcare IT by Dana Blankenhorn
No single vendor or certification process can build an IT infrastructure that both enables innovation and distributes it universally.
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Palm: On track to become a historical footnote
Remember when Palm - maker of the Pilot and Tungsten PDAs and later the Treo smartphone - was the dominant player in the handheld device business? Today, it's a completely ...
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Using TREES to save the forest
Lots of green building news bouncing around in the past few weeks, which simultaneously disheartening and heartening because of the state of the real estate market. The biggest deal, perhaps, ...
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The most slacking-est time of the year
Is this what your office looks like from November to January?Statistically speaking, you're not doing any work today -- or so poll after poll out this time of year about ...
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Interview: HP’s Tim Hall on heightening roles of governance in SOA, cloud and managing dynamic business boundaries
SOA governance heightens the business benefits of services, increases IT efficiency returns, and reduces the risk that complexity could undermine the services lifecycle in large organizations. Services governance also sets ...
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Apple, Mozilla gain ground on Microsoft for Web traffic
When it comes to surfing the Web, a growing number of people used Macs, instead of a Windows computer, as well as browsers other than Microsoft's Internet Explorer in the ...
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Would you lie to get your project funded?
83% of cost/benefit analysis supporting IT proposals is a fiction I was reviewing an academic manuscript, Managing the Realization of Business Benefits from IT Investments (published in (MIS Quarterly Executive, ...
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Holiday Gift Guide 2008: Feature phones
I've now given you a Holiday Guide for smartphones and free cellphones so this Guide presents the best of the devices that are commonly called feature phones. With the power ...
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The Paparazzi Social Media Problem
Jevon McDonald, someone whose opinions I rate highly, has posted a stellar piece on 'The uncertain future of Blogging' today. The idea of user-generated content was once almost exclusively owned ...
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See You in the Cloud
This post marks the end of my relationship with ZDNet -- though not the end of my blogging career by a long shot. I'll still be blogging -- can't seem ...
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Robert Scoble: 'No bigger week for Nokia' than this one
Robert Scoble of Scobleizer fame is in Barcelona, Spain for Nokia World, a week where Nokia talks to its top customers, and according to him, there is no bigger week ...
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Study: Cell phones distract drivers more than passengers do
According to a new study, it's more distracting to have Paris Hilton's Sidekick in the car than it is to have Paris herself. Sorry, Paris. Cell phones distract car drivers ...
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Clearwire-Sprint make it official, pave way for WiMax rollout
A mobile WiMax service, called Clear, will soon be here, now that Clearwire and Sprint-Nextel have completed a $14.5 billion joint-venture deal that was announced in May. The new company ...
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WARP speed for Windows 7
The other day the eagle-eyed Long Zheng noticed a document on Microsoft's MSDN site outlining how Microsoft plans to allow DirectX 10 acceleration on the CPU. by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes
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Openbravo to push open source ERP more aggressively in US
One open source project is giving thanks for reaching the one million download milestone and believes the worldwide financial crisis will only accelerate its growth. Openbravo, a purveyor of a popular open ...
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Monday fun - Simpsons parody Apple
Simpsons parody Apple ... uh, Mapple. MyPods, MyPhones, Brainiac Bars :) by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes
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Supercomputers help design better golf balls
Researchers are using supercomputers to create new balls that will improve the game of avid golfers by flying farther. They've used the supercomputers at Arizona State University to simulate the ...
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The Simpsons lampoon Apple
No one is safe from satire on The Simpsons. The animated series, which just began its 20th season, has lampooned just about every large company, celebrity and pretty much every ...
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Can Linux and Solaris be married?
Nexenta its symbol is a giraffe combines the OpenSolaris kernel with Userland, the open source filesystem. by Dana Blankenhorn
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Calling Mac users - Have you installed antivirus on your Mac?
Apple now recommends that users install antivirus software on their Mac systems. Well, have you? by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes
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AlertPay hit by a large scale DDoS attack
Timing is everything. Millions of account holders at privately owned online payment gateway AlertPay.com weren't able to do business through the service yesterday, due to the fact that AlertPay was ...
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A Developer's View
John Carroll
At the intersection between technology and economic policy, John Carroll brings years of experience as a software developer to bear on the latest issues affecting the technology industry.
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All About Microsoft
Mary-Jo Foley
Microsoft watcher Mary Jo Foley's blog covers the products, people and strategies that make Microsoft tick.
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Between the Lines
Larry Dignan, Sam Diaz, Tom Steinert-Threlkeld
Larry Dignan and other IT industry experts, blogging at the intersection of business and technology, deliver daily news and analysis on vital enterprise trends.
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BriefingsDirect
Dana Gardner
Analyst Dana Gardner examines IT news and trends that impact software strategists to provide insights and outcomes on SOA, app dev, SaaS, enterprise infrastructure and mobile convergence.
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Collaboration 2.0
Oliver Marks
Real world collaboration strategy for enterprises
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Community, Incorporated
Joe Brockmeier
Joe Brockmeier reports on the intersection of commercial interests and communities, and offers information and advice about bridging the gap between companies and communities.
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CRM 2.0: The Conversation
Paul Greenberg
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Dev Connection
Ed Burnette
Who said computers have to be all work and no play? Software developer and author Ed Burnette shares his unique view of industry trends, technologies, and personalities.
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Digital Cameras
Janice Chen
Gadget geek Janice Chen delivers real-world buying advice of the best gear to get.
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Ed Bott's Microsoft Report
Ed Bott
Get outspoken insights and expert advice on Windows, Office, and other Microsoft products from a source who knows these technologies inside and out.
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Emerging Tech
Roland Piquepaille
Emerging trends in technology and new developments in science will affect the way we live. Roland Piquepaille selects and analyzes news about our future that you'll almost never find anywhere else.
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Enterprise Alley
Dennis Howlett & Zack Whittaker
Showcasing the new breed of startup-style vendors who are solving old problems in a fresh way or offering a glimpse into the future of enterprise applications.
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Enterprise Anti-matter
Joshua Greenbaum
Software analyst Josh Greenbaum's opinions on enterprise software have annoyed enough vendors that he now checks under the hood of his PC every morning before he boots up.
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Enterprise Web 2.0
Dion Hinchcliffe
Dion Hinchcliffe on leveraging the convergence of IT and the next generation of the Web.
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Feeds
Jennifer Leggio
Jennifer Leggio delivers news on social media tools and trends and deep dives into business strategies.
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Forrester Research
The View from Forrester Research
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Googling Google
Garett Rogers
Garett Rogers explores the mystery behind the hottest and fastest growing tech company in the world.Google spoilers inside.
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GreenTech Pastures
Harry Fuller and Heather Clancy
As the global warming debate rages, Harry Fuller and Heather Clancy chronicle alternative energy start-ups, green data center projects and other high-tech and political developments shaping the green technology movement.
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Hardware 2.0
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes sieves through the marketing hyperbole and casts his critical eye over the latest technological innovations to find out which products make the grade and which don't.
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Home Theater
Sean Portnoy
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iGeneration
Zack Whittaker
Talking 'bout the next generation of IT users
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Irregular Enterprise
Dennis Howlett
Dennis Howlett analyzing the issues faced by senior business practitioners who work with enterprise software.
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IT Facts
Alex Moskalyuk
Your daily research synopsis is the top resource for business and technology statistics that inform, enlighten and entertain.
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IT Project Failures
Michael Krigsman
Michael Krigsman is passionate about reporting, analyzing, and reducing IT failures.
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Laptops & Desktops
John Morris
John Morris delivers straight talk about notebook and desktop computers.
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Lawgarithms
Denise Howell
Issue-spotting the Live Web, attorney Denise Howell muses about cutting edge technology-related legal issues.
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Linux and Open Source
Dana Blankenhorn & Paula Rooney
Covering all aspects of the shared software, shared processes business model, including open spectrum, an open Internet and the implications of open source values on politics and society.
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Managing L'unix
Paul Murphy
A free-ranging daily blog on issues related to Unix - including Linux, BSD, and Solaris - with a particular focus on enterprise-level decision-making.
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On Sustainability
James Farrar
James Farrar focuses on the business balance between financial performance and social-environmental impact.
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Rational Rants
Mitch Ratcliffe
"Mitch Ratcliffe blogs about the constantly changing boundary between media and life, the businesses that live on that border, and the meaning of all this change to society and the economy.
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Service Oriented
Joe McKendrick
SOA promises many "-ilities": greater agility, flexibility, and reusability. Joe McKendrick explores the challenges and opportunities with SOA, and how to capitalize on this new computing philosophy.
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Smartphones and Cell Phones
Matthew Miller
Professionals are doing more today on the go than ever before. Matthew Miller provides you with news, commentary and in-depth reviews of the latest in mobile gadgetry running Windows Mobile, S60,