Cyber Dreams

2008-04-15T13:27:00.000+05:30

Microsoft and India's HCL Infosystems said they would work together to develop a Windows-based laptop PC that will be the cheapest available in any market worldwide.

The system, called the MiLeap H Series, will run Windows XP Home and will sell for 17,000 Indian rupees, or about $425 (U.S.). The MiLeap H features a 30-GB hard drive and is "broadband ready," the companies said in a statement Friday.

Microsoft chief operating officer Kevin Turner, at a launch event in Mumbai, said the offering is meant to "empower Indian consumers and businesses with the latest and best that technology has to offer."

Microsoft, along with a number of other vendors, is eyeing the low-cost PC market as a major growth opportunity -- particularly in emerging markets where average incomes pale compared with the West. The company recently announced that it would extend the life of its Windows XP operating system, but only for deployment on low-cost systems.

Low-cost PCs that run on Linux, from Asus, Everex, and other vendors, also are becoming increasingly popular as some computer users conclude that mainstream systems running the Windows or Macintosh operating systems are overpowered for their needs.

Also on Friday, Microsoft and HCL said they would jointly establish a new Center of Excellence in India, staffed with 500 programmers trained to develop Microsoft-based solutions for various industries in the country.

India is becoming increasingly important to Microsoft -- and not just as a source of low-cost programming talent. Domestic spending in India for IT services will grow by about 43% in 2008, according to Indian IT trade group Nasscom.

Microsoft moves on F# functional language

2008-04-09T00:17:00.001+05:30

Microsoft plans to integrate F#, a functional programming language developed by the Microsoft Research group, into its Visual Studio application development platform, said S. "Soma" Somasegar, corporate vice president of the Microsoft Developer Division

The company, however, has not laid out a formal release schedule, although Somasegar pledged to both integrate F# into Visual Studio and continue evolving it.

Pronounced "F sharp," F# is based on the concepts of functional programming, Somasegar said. Functional languages treat computation as the evaluation of mathematical functions. The mathematical slant of functional programming is appealing to professionals in domains described with mathematical notation, including financial, scientific, and technical computing, said Somasegar.

F# combines type safety, performance, and scripting with the advantages of running on a on a modern runtime, Microsoft Research said. It supports interactive scripting like Python and the strong type inference and safety of ML. F# can access.Net libraries and database tools.

Bloggers corresponding about F# on the hubFS blog had positive responses to Microsoft's plans.

"I can't overstate how excited I am by this news," one blogger said.

"I discovered F# a few months ago and since then have made it my primary programming language (moving from Python and Java). I have found it to be a great language for developing simpler scripts or programming 'toy' implementations of algorithms. I've also found it to be a great language for building up real applications because of the ability to leverage everything already existing for .Net," the blogger said.

Somasegar cited other functional programming efforts at Microsoft.

"Language features, such as lambda expressions in C# and generics in .Net 2.0, have roots in functional languages, and LINQ (Language Integrated Query) is directly based on functional programming techniques," Somasegar said. LINQ extends C# and Visual Basic and simplifies how database and XML queries are written in these languages.

F# is designed to be a "first-class citizen" on .Net and will run on the on Microsoft CLR (Common Language Runtime), Somasegar said. Object-oriented programming is embraced and F# integrates with the .Net Framework. F# makes boosts .Net in the academic world, Somasegar said.

"We believe that through F# and languages like IronPython and IronRuby we can help offer students and educators choices beyond the current mainstream and enable the use of these languages across the curriculum. This helps educators have the option to use Visual Studio as a consistent tool set from course to course," he said.

Also in the application development realm Monday, the Microsoft Developer Division unveiled its Tester Center Web site. The site enables testers to connect with a community, contribute content and share testing practices and experiences.

Are extra laptop features worth it?

2008-04-09T00:14:00.002+05:30

In the automotive world, the real money is made in the options packages. Fancy hubcaps, satellite radio, two-tone paint? Thank you very much, dealers will say, as they pocket sometimes more money than they made selling you the car.

Though buying a new laptop online doesn't involve engaging in negotiations with a dealer, you still have a number of options to choose from. And with business laptops costing as much as $2,000, adding a few extras can push the price quite a bit higher. Some features are decidedly optional, while others are becoming de rigueur. Which are worth the money? Let's take a gander.

Solid-State Drives

With no moving parts, flash-memory solid-state drives (SSDs) operate silently and eliminate any risk to the drive from vibration or a sudden drop. SSDs are stunningly expensive at the moment. The largest capacity is just 64GB, and choosing one for your laptop can add from $900 to $1600 to the cost, depending on whether you select it as an option (such as on the base model of Apple's MacBook Air) or if it's available only with certain pricier models (such as with Lenovo and Sony laptops).

Our tests of SSDs showed mixed results. SSDs have exceedingly high read speeds, making system boots, application launches, and document loads much faster than with a conventional laptop hard drive. Write speeds aren't any better, however, and the overall performance is just a few percentage points faster than that of regular drives. Battery savings appear to be minimal, as well.

The value of an SSD may change dramatically in 2008, however, as 256GB and larger drives hit the market. The first 256GB drive will wholesale for nearly $6,000, but like all storage costs over time, SSD prices should plummet as volume and capacity increase. In 2009, a 64GB drive might run just $200 to $300 over a 5,400-rpm standard hard drive, and may boost performance and drop power use further.

Our verdict: Wait, unless you're in an industry in which vibration, read time, or the slightest noise matter.

Special Screen Coatings

Dell's TrueLife screen, with its promise of a bright, vibrant display, might seem a good option at the time of purchase, but at about $160 for an upgrade to a 17-inch LCD on a business laptop, its benefit is unclear.

Dell claims that TrueLife produces a 10 percent boost in contrast, as well as more vivid colors. Other manufacturers' options, such as Gateway's UltraBright, HP's BrightView, and Toshiba's TruBrite, are similar. (The names seem reminiscent of toothpaste advertising, but we digress.) See "Vibrant Notebook Screens" for an overview of what such displays have to offer.

Travelers who frequently work in awkward lighting conditions, where glare, dimness, or reflections abound, would appreciate this $100 to $200 upgrade. The enhanced screen is useful if you intend to watch DVDs or other video on the laptop, too. The screen technology used varies from company to company; consult PC World's laptop reviews for more insight about a particular offering.

Our verdict: If you spend a lot of time squinting at your current laptop display, it's worth it; otherwise, save your pennies.

Integrated Mobile Broadband

The network is everywhere! Or so AT&T, Sprint Nextel, and Verizon Wireless would like you to believe. Their third-generation (3G) networks are in most major cities, and in more than 1,000 airports. But their cell modems for accessing the data networks are available only in a relatively small number of laptops.

The advantage of a built-in mobile broadband adapter is that it's one fewer thing you have to carry around. And ostensibly the manufacturer has built a better antenna by using the laptop's case to carry a signal. These cards can cost any amount from nothing to $300, depending on a carrier's subsidy and your term of commitment.

Technology changes rapidly in the cellular world, though, and an integrated, usually mini-PCI-format adapter is hard to upgrade for faster speeds. Such adapters are rarely user serviceable, and even laptop makers might not offer a swap-out program.

Currently, the Sprint and Verizon EvDO networks run at Rev. A, but some laptops still offer modems meeting the previous Rev. 0 standard. Sprint is rolling out WiMax starting this year, and that will mean a different PC Card. And AT&T's HSPA technology has already seen one boost (in the upstream direction); the downstream side could double in the next year to match top European speeds. (The one exception to the speed-enhancement trend is Qualcomm's forthcoming Gobi technology, which can switch between EvDO and HSPA; Dell will offer a Gobi option this fall.)

Our verdict: With the potential for enjoying faster service and avoiding outdated hardware, buying a stand-alone card--perhaps the USB type, for shuttling among computers--doesn't cost any more than choosing an integrated modem, and provides more flexibility.

Draft-N Wireless

Wi-Fi continues to evolve, but its latest incarnation, draft-n, is likely the fastest flavor we'll have until 2012. Laptop makers were early adopters of this version of the IEEE 802.11n standard, which may change slightly and require firmware and driver upgrades as it moves toward full approval in 2009.

Most business laptops still include 802.11g -- the 2003-era standard that was itself a big speed boost--as standard equipment or as a downgrade option to reduce cost during configuration of a purchase. Upgrading to draft-n adds from $15 to $40 to the cost of most companies' laptops. (The one notable exception is Apple, which standardized on draft-n for its laptops in October 2006.) The biggest advantage of a draft-n adapter is that transferring large files between similarly equipped computers or to and from a high-speed corporate (or even gigabit SOHO) network takes one-third to one-fifth the time as the task does over 802.11g.

Our verdict: Rather than buy a laptop with a five-year-old standard built in, ride on the cutting edge and select draft-n. The modest cost gets you a substantial speed boost, and futureproofs your laptop for a few years.

Fingerprint Scanner

Once a feature for people working in high-security jobs, fingerprint scanners are now commonplace, included in most premium business laptops and available otherwise as an inexpensive add-on. Lenovo, for instance, charges a bit over $20 to swap its touchpad with a fingerprint reader; Dell asks for $30 to add the device to laptops in its Latitude line.

Depending on the laptop, a fingerprint reader might be tied in with boot-time firmware to prevent a computer from starting up without a valid fingerprint. It may also safeguard Windows log-ins or replace passwords for online services and encrypted virtual disk mounting.

Our verdict: Just about any business or individual would benefit from having one of these readers, especially considering the negligible expense. But make sure that the reader and the laptop configuration combine for the particular protection features you need.

Hardware Drive Encryption

The biggest mainstream security story of the last few years concerns the theft of laptops containing credit card numbers, credit history, Social Security numbers, and other data belonging to consumers, veterans, and company employees. If only the victims had employed encryption, right?

Some hard drives now have hardware-backed encryption built in, which helps make locking down data easier. Seagate's Momentus 5400 FDE.2 is currently the best-known entry in this category, and Dell is the only laptop maker to offer it as a standard upgrade option. An 80GB or 120GB drive with hardware encryption costs about $100 extra.

The data stored on such drives is entirely encrypted in real time, with no delays and with no interaction between the drive and the operating system. This design improves performance and provides fewer points of entry for unauthorized access.

Some analysts expect drive makers other than Seagate and Hitachi to get into the business, and hardware drive encryption will likely become a dominant business-laptop feature -- not even much of an option -- by 2009.

Our verdict: For any industry in which security is paramount or even legally obligated (the medical, legal, and governmental fields, for starters), the additional cost of hardware encryption is minuscule when weighed against the technology's ease of use and its role in avoidance of liability.

Free-Fall Sensor

You'll never drop your laptop. Of course you won't. Someone will, however, jostle you, or the laptop will be balanced precariously on the arm of your seat in an airport waiting area, and -- crash! When you inspect it, the laptop is fine; the drive, however, is trashed.

A free-fall sensor can detect when a drive experiences sudden motion that indicates a near-term poor outcome. Turtlelike, the drive instantly retracts its read/write heads to keep them from damaging the internal platters. The drive then pops the heads out when the coast is clear.

Apple has included motion sensors in all of its laptops for the last three years. Other manufacturers, such as Lenovo and Toshiba, may charge a small premium, about $40 to $50, to upgrade a drive to have the feature.

Google Jumps Head First Into Web Services With Google App Engine

2008-04-09T00:06:00.001+05:30

Google isn’t just talking about hosting applications in the cloud any more. Tonight at 9pm PT they’re launching Google App Engine (Update: The site is live), an ambitious new project that offers a full-stack, hosted, automatically scalable web application platform. It consists of Python application servers, BigTable database access (anticipated here and here) and GFS data store services.

At first blush this is a full on competitor to the suite of web services offered by Amazon, including S3 (storage), EC2 (virtual servers) and SimpleDB (database).

Unlike Amazon Web Services’ loosely coupled architecture, which consists of several essentially independent services that can optionally be tied together by developers, Google’s architecture is more unified but less flexible. For example, it is possible with Amazon to use their storage service S3 independently of any other services, while with Google using their BigTable service will require writing and deploying a Python script to their app servers, one that creates a web-accessible interface to BigTable.

What this all means: Google App Engine is designed for developers who want to run their entire application stack, soup to nuts, on Google resources. Amazon, by contrast, offers more of an a la carte offering with which developers can pick and choose what resources they want to use.

Google Product Manager Tom Stocky described the new service to me in an interview today. Developers simply upload their Python code to Google, launch the application, and can monitor usage and other metrics via a multi-platform desktop application.

More details from Google:

Today we’re announcing a preview release of Google App Engine, an application-hosting tool that developers can use to build scalable web apps on top of Google’s infrastructure. The goal is to make it easier for web developers to build and scale applications, instead of focusing on system administration and maintenance.

Leveraging Google App Engine, developers can:

Write code once and deploy. Provisioning and configuring multiple machines for web serving and data storage can be expensive and time consuming. Google App Engine makes it easier to deploy web applications by dynamically providing computing resources as they are needed. Developers write the code, and Google App Engine takes care of the rest.
Absorb spikes in traffic. When a web app surges in popularity, the sudden increase in traffic can be overwhelming for applications of all sizes, from startups to large companies that find themselves rearchitecting their databases and entire systems several times a year. With automatic replication and load balancing, Google App Engine makes it easier to scale from one user to one million by taking advantage of Bigtable and other components of Google’s scalable infrastructure.
Easily integrate with other Google services. It’s unnecessary and inefficient for developers to write components like authentication and e-mail from scratch for each new application. Developers using Google App Engine can make use of built-in components and Google’s broader library of APIs that provide plug-and-play functionality for simple but important features.

Google App Engine: The Limitations

The service is launching in beta and has a number of limitations.

First, only the first 10,000 developers to sign up for the beta will be allowed to deploy applications.

The service is completely free during the beta period, but there are ceilings on usage. Applications cannot use more than 500 MB of total storage, 200 million megacycles/day CPU time, and 10 GB bandwidth (both ways) per day. We’re told this equates to about 5M pageviews/mo for the typical web app. After the beta period, those ceilings will be removed, but developers will need to pay for any overage. Google has not yet set pricing for the service.

One current limitation is a requirement that applications be written in Python, a popular scripting language for building modern web apps (Ruby and PHP are among others widely used). Google says that Python is just the first supported language, and that the entire infrastructure is designed to be language neutral. Google’s initial focus on Python makes sense because they use Python internally as their scripting language

Microsoft Gives Windows XP A Limited Reprieve

2008-04-06T23:30:00.001+05:30

In a decision that highlights Windows Vista's hefty system requirements, Microsoft said Thursday that it would allow computer makers to continue to sell the older Windows XP operating system on "ultra low-cost PCs" for an extended period.

Microsoft said it would allow system vendors to preload the Home edition of Windows XP on ULCPCs through June 2010, or one year after the next version of Windows becomes generally available.

Microsoft defines ULCPCs as, among other things, systems that use discount-line processors and lack a separate graphics card. An example of such as system is the Asus Eee PC, which runs Windows XP or Linux and sells for less than $400.

Such low-spec machines would be incapable of running Vista.

To experience all of Vista's features, PC users need a computer with at least a 1-GHz processor, 1 GB of memory, and a 40-GB hard drive. By contrast, Windows XP Professional requires only a 300-MHz processor, 128 MB of RAM, and a 1.5-Gbyte disk.

Without continued access to XP, vendors like Asus would be forced to offer only Linux on their systems. It's a situation Microsoft is trying to avoid, particularly as sales of ULCPCs rise in emerging markets like India and China.

Microsoft is terminating Windows XP's shelf life for most PC makers on June 30, though independent system builders will have access to the OS through January 2009. Microsoft has said it expects XP sales to account for as little as 15% of its operating system revenues in its current fiscal year, which runs through June.

Microsoft introduced Windows XP in late 2001. The company ordinarily makes operating systems available only for four years after launch date. But delays in producing Windows Vista, which debuted in January of 2007, forced Microsoft to continue selling XP longer than planned.

Microsoft had originally planned to shelve Windows XP on January 30th.

The Web's best free stuff

2008-03-25T19:12:00.001+05:30

There's a wealth of downloadable software and online services, but free doesn't necessarily mean good. Here's some of the best of the bunch

Free: It's the magic word for an ever-expanding wealth of downloadable software and online services. Free doesn't necessarily mean good, however, and hunting for freebies can mean sifting through a lot of junk.

That's where we come in. We surfed, clicked, and installed to find sparkling free gems capable of planning your time, keeping you in touch, and tuning and securing your PC, not to mention glitzing up your desktop, helping you stay productive, and entertaining you with music, videos, photos, and games. We paid special attention to programs and services you may not have heard of before.

We also singled out two free offerings--one download and one online service --as the best of the bunch. We want to hear your picks for the best freebies, too, whether they appear in this article or not. Please let us know by joining our forum discussion.

Productivity

AbiWord (download)
Tired of expensive, slow, bloated word processors? Download this surprisingly powerful freebie, which includes sophisticated features such as mail merge and advanced layouts. The program handles a wide variety of document formats, including those of Microsoft Word, Rich Text Format, OpenOffice.org, and other programs.

TrackMyShipments (service)
If you place orders often via the Web or phone, here's a site for you. When you get a shipping notification, forward the e-mail to track@trackmyshipments.com. The service reads through your message for the tracking information and keeps it in one place for all of your orders. Log in to the site to see the progress of your shipments, including a map showing their progress.

Buzzword.com (service)
You have plenty of free Web-based word processors to choose from, but most aren't as slick as this one. The design is tasteful and elegant, menu items slide in and out of place, and it's incredibly simple to use. But don't let the pretty face fool you, because Buzzword is feature-packed as well. Inserting tables and graphics is a breeze, you can easily select background colors, and the document manager is a standout too.

ThinkFree Online (service)
Don't want to fork over several hundred dollars for Microsoft Office? Try this Web-based productivity suite, which covers word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations. The service can create files compatible with Microsoft Office, so you can download files to your own PC where you can work on them offline using Office applications, if you wish. You can also edit your Office-created documents in ThinkFree, though you have to be connected to the Internet to do that. But if you're always connected, you can't beat free.

StarOffice (download)
If you prefer offline apps that reside on your PC, download the free StarOffice suite, which includes a word processor, a spreadsheet app, and a presentation program, among other goodies. It's part of the free Google Pack, which also contains a bunch of other programs you might not want. During the Google Pack download, simply check the box next to StarOffice and uncheck all the others.

Foxit Reader for Windows (download)
High on our list of the most annoying applications of all time is Adobe Acrobat Reader. It's slow, bloated, and buggy, and it often crashes some systems--all of which can drive you insane. Foxit lets you read and even fill out PDF files, without touching Reader. This small and compact tool loads fast, won't hog RAM or system resources, and won't crash your PC.

Microsoft Office Live Small Business (service)
With this service, you can share documents and collaborate with coworkers and customers, build a Web site, and manage your contacts. A variety of for-pay options are available as well, but you don't have to pay for the basics.

Blist (service)
If you own a small business, you need a database to create and track customer records, among other details. At home, you may want to organize information related to hobbies, such as your fantasy football stats. With Blist, you can do all of that online for free. You just drag and drop column types, such as numbers, dates, names, and money amounts, onto a grid. Then type in your data, and voilá--instant database.

Moffsoft FreeCalc (download)
For simple, basic operations, the calculator that ships with Windows is fine. But if you need more, get this great free download. It has a variety of new keys, such as memory subtract, and its nifty "tap" feature keeps a running history of all your calculations.

File sharing and storage

4Shared (service)
This clever site combines personal, online storage with file sharing. You get 5GB of free space to store your files. You can either keep the files private or share them with other users, on a folder-by-folder basis. The service imposes just one limitation: No file can be larger than 100MB.

Torrent Swapper (download)
Though BitTorrent has become the de facto protocol for sharing files, the BitTorrent client leaves a lot to be desired. Get this far superior, and faster, open source client instead. It's easy to use, and it lets you get recommendations from others about files to download; it also allows you to stop, pause, resume, and queue downloads.

Shareaza (download)
Want to share files, but don't want to be tied exclusively to the BitTorrent protocol? This simple-to-use free download allows you to share files on multiple networks and protocols, including BitTorrent, Gnutella, Gnutella2, and eDonkey. It offers fast search and chat capabilities, and you can skin it to your taste as well.

Microsoft Office Live Workspace (service)
This is, by far, the most powerful free file-sharing site you can find. It's closer to a full-blown collaboration tool, and it links directly to Microsoft Office so that you can edit your online files using Office applications. The service is ideal for small businesses looking for a way to collaborate on common documents.

Dropboks (service)
Don't expect sophistication or any bells and whistles here. This service is a simple, straightforward way to store up to 1GB of files online for free.

Openomy (service)
This simple, no-frills storage site also lets you share files with other people. You get 1GB of free storage, and you can send colleagues links to your files so they can download them. It has as basic an interface as you will find. One important note: Make sure to create "tags" (the equivalents of folders) and then upload files to your tags; otherwise, you may never unearth the files again.

MP3 Rocket (download)
You can do more with this Gnutella client than just share and download files. You can also listen to Internet radio stations, watch online video channels, and burn your own CDs.

Bluestring (service)
If you want to share media and other kinds of files, the task doesn't get much easier than on this site. Upload your files to the service, and you'll have access to them online whenever you want. You can then share them with others in various ways, including sending an e-mail link to the storage site. It's also a good way to publish photos and media to a Web site or blog, since you can put a link in your page to the file being hosted on Bluestring.

Security

VirusTotal Uploader (download)
Great for checking potentially dangerous downloads and e-mail attachments, this uploader gives you a right-click option to send any file under 10MB to VirusTotal's exceptional site, where you'll receive antivirus scan results from 32 different program engines.

Avira AntiVir PersonalEdition (download)
Avira typically does a great job of detecting malware on a PC; the paid version of the program posted a 99.6 percent catch rate in the latest tests from AV-Test.org. The free version employs the same engine, but you'll have to tolerate the occasional pop-up urging you to upgrade to the paid application.

Spyware Doctor Starter Edition (download)
This edition of the popular PC Tools antispyware application is part of the Google Pack. The free version can run full spyware scans but doesn't have many of the real-time protection features of the paid version.

Comodo Firewall Pro (download)
Comodo's extensive firewall can block unauthorized attempts to send information from your PC to the Internet, which surpasses the protection that the built-in XP firewall offers. But as with any advanced firewall, be sure you know what you're doing before monkeying with the more in-depth security settings.

TrueCrypt (download)
Create an encrypted virtual drive with its own drive letter that automatically protects any file you add to it with your choice of encryption. If you try this program, be sure to go through the helpful first-time-use tutorial.

Secunia Personal Software Inspector (download)
Secunia's useful program makes keeping your software applications up-to-date much easier. It even covers apps that you might rarely use but that can leave Internet Explorer (and your PC) wide open because of an unsafe ActiveX control. PSI provides details on the security holes in old software and tells you where to obtain updates.

Spamfighter Pro (download)
Spamfighter harnesses the collective intelligence of 4.5 million e-mailers around the world to block spam with a toolbar in Outlook, Outlook Express, and Windows Mail. The free version shows a text ad in the toolbar and adds a footer to your e-mail messages.

BitDefender Online Scanner (service)
If you suspect that your regular anti-virus app missed a malware infection, head to BitDefender's online scanner (requires Internet Explorer) for a second opinion. The Web app scans your system's memory and all files, detecting and removing infections.

ThreatFire Free (download)
ThreatFire supplements (but doesn't replace) your regular antivirus program. It adds behavioral-analysis protection that attempts to identify Trojan horses and other malware based on how they act on your PC.

McAfee Rootkit Detective (download)
The information you receive from Rootkit Detective's pursuit of malware-hiding rootkits might be too technical to use yourself. The handy Submit button, however, will produce free advice on dealing with the suspicious files it finds.

Video and photo

Phrasr (service)
Here's an offbeat Web site for folks who would like to create online photo-collage postcards and share them. When you type in a phrase, the site grabs photos from the Flickr photo-sharing site that it believes match each word, and then builds a Web page/photo gallery based on it. You can click each photo to view the original at Flickr, and send the URL to a friend.

Flypaper (service)
With this site (as well as its associated software) you can create Flash-based "stories," in the form of slide shows or multimedia presentations, about anything you want. You can create a résumé, a presentation for your company or a trade group, training material, or anything else that comes to mind. Prebuilt templates will help you get started.

Miro (download)
This open-source video tool will play every video format under the sun, show HD content, tune in to video blogs, save YouTube videos, and even download and show video files via BitTorrent.

Photoscape (download)
This do-it-all tool, a must-have application for digital photographers, offers a file viewer, an image editor, a slide-show creator, a batch editor, and a screen-capture program. It can even convert photos in the RAW format used by many digital cameras to the more useful JPEG format.

URL Snooper (download)
Are you frustrated that YouTube and similar sites allow you to view videos online, but not download and save them to your PC? With this free program, you can grab them. Head to a Web page, and the program lists all of the videos on it. You just double-click one to view it or save it.

MeeVee (service)
Throw away your print TV listings--this site is approximately 10,000 times better. In addition to the standard listings, Meevee lets you create your own personal channel listings by combining your favorite TV programs and online video. It has a wealth of detail about each show, and the online-video listings contain links to the actual video content. Try that with your TV Guide.

Yahoo Live (service)
This is a video site with a difference--it broadcasts live video, rather than prerecorded clips. You can broadcast yourself live, too, as long as you have a Webcam. When we checked in on a Sunday afternoon, it didn't have a whole lot of live content, but you can expect that to change as interest in real-time services grows.

Fixmymovie (service)
Everyone wants to create great-looking videos to post on the Web, but few people have professional-quality video cameras. That's where this site comes in. It takes the grainy, dark video you've captured with your cell phone, Webcam, or digital camera, and helps you clean it up for posting online by adjusting the contrast and bringing out the details hidden in dark areas.

FotoFlexer (service)
Who needs software to edit photos or add special effects? Instead, head to this site and use its full complement of powerful editing tools, including all kinds of special effects such as stretching, adding a tint, and drawing a cartoon based on the photo.

System utilities and backup

Zamzar (service)
Need to convert files from one format to another? With Zamzar you can convert files to countless types of formats. The site works with all Microsoft Office document file types, as well as a large number of video, audio, and graphics files, and even file-compression archives.

Bug.gd (service)
If you encounter an undecipherable error message and want to find a solution to the problem, head to this Web site and type in the error message. If any of the site's previous users have found the answer to your problem, it will be listed there. It's about 100 times better than waiting on hold to talk to a support rep.

Clip2net (service)
Here's a clever tool for people who want to take screen captures and use them on the Web. After you download free software from this site and use it to capture a screen, the software uploads the capture. Clip2Net then sends you the URL to the hosting location, so you can link directly to the images from your blog or Web site.

iDrive (service)
You can back up 2GB of data for free to this Web site, using associated software that sets up a virtual drive. When you copy files to that virtual drive, you're actually storing your stuff at a secure iDrive server on the Internet.

CCleaner (download)
This utility offers the best way to clean the gunk out of your PC, including waste from Windows, the Internet, Microsoft applications, and plenty of third-party applications.

AppSnap (download)
Want to make sure all of the freeware on your PC is current? This program scans your system, locates freeware that's out of date, and then upgrades the applications that you tell it to.

Eusing Free Registry Cleaner (download)
Your Registry is filled with outdated and bad entries. Clean it with this free utility, and keep your system in tip-top shape.

CO2 Saver (download)
This free program puts your PC into sleep or hibernation mode at appropriate times, which conserves energy and reduces carbon dioxide emissions. You'll save money and help the environment.

Maps and directions

WeFi (download)
With WeFi, you can connect with the world in more ways than one. It not only finds Wi-Fi hotspots but also maps other Wi-Fi users' locations by triangulating among hotspots. It then displays them on a map, so you can see who's near you.

Zillow (service)
What is your home worth? How about the home of your neighbor down the street--or a house in Tuscon, Ariz.? At this real estate site you can find out the worth of almost any home in your neighborhood, as well as buy or sell a home, scope out new neighborhoods, and chat with people who already live there.

TerraServer (service)
This Microsoft-run site gives aerial views of any location in the United States, and displays topographical maps too. You can print any of the maps yourself or order a high-resolution copy.

FreeMind (download)
Finding maps of the world is easy -- how would you like to make a map of your ideas? That's exactly what this software promises to do. With it, you connect your ideas, works, and projects; its visual representation can help you devise new ideas and keep track of old ones.

Discovery Earth Live (service)
Interested in the current state of the planet? This Web site from the Discovery Channel shows a globe that presents multiple layers of information, including clouds, water vapor, and rainfall.

MizPee (service)
There's no delicate way to describe this site, so we won't try. You use it when you are in a public place and need to find a clean toilet--something that's not so easy in most metropolitan areas. You can either check the service on your PC before you travel somewhere or use your cell phone's browser.

Stellarium (download)
This open source astronomy app displays all the celestial objects you could ever want to see, including stars, planets, nebulae, and constellations. It displays the night sky in various grids and from different points of view, and can show the movement of heavenly bodies in slow- or fast-motion.

Flightstats (service)
Want to check for delays, learn the current status of flights at airports, and track planes as they fly to their destination? This site offers an exceptional amount of detail, such as whether certain airports are de-icing aircraft.

Communications

Pownce (service)
On this social networking site you can send items to friends and receive items from them, including messages, links, files, and event notices. Pownce is also a kind of meta-networking service, since it imports all your friends from other social networking sites and e-mail programs, such as Facebook, Hotmail, and Twitter.

Pidgin (download)
Why can't instant messenger programs get along? With the open-source IM client Pidgin, they can. Within this single application, you can chat with people on all of the big instant messaging networks--including AIM, Google, ICQ, MSN Messenger, and Yahoo Messenger--plus many others you may not heard of, such as QQ and SILC.

Pbwiki (service)
Creating and maintaining a wiki is a great way for people to collaborate. With Pbwiki, you'll find it a breeze to set up a wiki of your own, for free. Whether you use it for a workgroup, for an entire business, or for a nonprofit or social group, it's ideal.

Make Me Sustainable (service)
Want to do good for the planet while connecting with like-minded others? Specify an activity at this site, and it calculates the amount of greenhouse gases the activity produces, in units of carbon dioxide. It then suggests how you can reduce your impact and shows you how much less carbon dioxide you'll generate as a result. You can also see what other people in your geographic area have done, or create sustainability discussion groups.

Gizmo (download)
Tired of paying massive phone bills? Cut them down to size with this free Skype-like software, which allows you to talk for free with other Gizmo users through your computer. You can make inexpensive calls from your PC to landlines and cell phones, too.

Dopplr (service)
If you travel a lot and want to share your travel plans with family, coworkers, and friends, try this site. You can put in your itinerary and have your friends enter theirs, and the site will create a map showing where everybody will be. If you discover that you and a friend will happen to be in the same city, for example, you can make arrangements for dinner, even if it's in the airport.

Talkshoe (service)
Here's a free way to participate in group voice chats with people who share your interests. Head to the site and click a chat to join, and you'll be able to talk using the Web-based app. You can create your own chats, as well. Talkshoe integrates directly into other social networking sites, such as Facebook, so you can converse with your friends from those sites too.

TeeBeeDee (service)
Tired of social networking sites aimed at people whose idea of ancient history is the Clinton administration? This service caters to folks 40 and above. Whether you're interested in work, play, relationships, or just about anything else, TeeBeeDee can help you find others who share your passions.

Time management

Voo2do.com (service)

Much more than a to-do list, this project management site helps you track how much time you spend on tasks grouped into different projects. You can share tasks and projects, and create new tasks by sending the site an e-mail.

TimeBridge (service)
Need to schedule meetings with scattered colleagues on assorted e-mail and calendaring networks? Head over to TimeBridge, which can pull in your Outlook or Google calendar availability and allow participants (who don't have to be TimeBridge members) to choose from up to five proposed meeting times.

30Boxes.com (service)
The interface of this calendar site lets you quickly create events with tags, invites, Google map links, and more. You can also import up to 100 contacts from Gmail, Hotmail, Outlook, Plaxo, or Yahoo to take advantage of all the sharing that the site emphasizes.

SyncMyCal (download)
This app can synchronize your Google, Pocket Microsoft Outlook, or 30Boxes calendar with your Outlook XP, 2003, or 2007 calendar. The free versions can handle multiple online calendars but they won't automatically sync (you'll need to click a button in an installed Outlook toolbar).

Lightning (download)
This program adds a great-looking, full-featured calendar and task list to Thunderbird, Mozilla's excellent free E-mail application. You can create multiple color-coded calendars and pull in events from other online calendars such as Google Calendar.

Scrybe (service)
If you want to see just how much an online application can feel like a desktop program, sign up for the ongoing beta of Scrybe's calendar and note-taking app. Its slick display, with zoom effects when you drill down from month to week to day, will make you quickly forget you're in a browser window. It also has an offline mode, an Outlook-like reminder pop-up, and lots of other nice features.

Ta-da List (service)
If you just want a simple and easy list for tracking tasks, check out Ta-da List. It has few features, but you can get it up and running in no time.

Music

Winamp (download)
The latest version of the venerable free music player can sync with iPods and fixes a serious security bug in earlier versions of the software. Its new companion download, Winamp Remote, allows you to listen to non-DRM-protected music on your PC from anywhere through a Web browser.

Audacity (download)
This capable open source download can edit and record .mp3, .wav, and other digital audio files. You can use the program to convert file types, record podcasts, and mix special effects into your favorite songs, as well.

iTunes Library Updater (download)
If moving or deleting songs has thrown your iTunes library into disarray, grab this handy tool. It can easily clean up duplicates and orphaned entries, as well as add new music from specified directories that iTunes doesn't yet know about.

Soundsnap (service)
Find almost any type of royalty-free sound sample at this well-designed site, whether you're looking for trumpeting elephants, synthesized drum loops, or the perfect "boing" sound effect.

iLike (service)
With a plug-in for Windows Media Player or iTunes, iLike installs a sidebar displaying artist news (recent albums, local concerts, and so on) based on music already residing in your library. It also recommends new music that you might like, offering song samples. You can share playlists and preferences with other iTunes-using friends, too.

Slacker (service)
Start with your pick of Internet radio stations in Slacker's in-browser player--from 90s Alternative to Outlaw Country to Big Band/Swing--or type in the name of a band to get a station covering that sort of music. Afterward, you can customize the station with your choice of artists, and fine-tune options such as song popularity and age. You can also download a stand-alone software player.

Lala.com (service)
If you take the time to upload all or part of your MP3 collection to Lala.com, you can then play those songs anywhere through a Web browser. Though you can't download the songs to another PC, you can use a downloadable applet to sync your Lala music (both uploads and music purchased from Lala) to your iPod.

Wavosaur (download)
When you need to edit short audio programs, sound effects, or loops, give the free Wavosaur audio editor a try. It has all the basic audio editing functions (cut, copy, paste, crop, fade in, fade out, and so on), and some audio analysis features, as well. You can use it to record sound and do batch-processing on a folder full of files.

Desktop dustomization

WinMatrix (service)
This customization clearinghouse serves up a dizzying array of guides, links, and posts for the serious tweaker who wants to change the look and feel of Windows XP or Vista. If you're new to the XP customization game, start with the site's excellent beginner's guide.

WindowBlinds (download)
For "skinning" the various Windows interfaces, Stardock's WindowBlinds theme manager is the tool to use. After you pick up the program, head to Wincustomize.com for a kid-in-the-candy-shop feeling as you browse through 522 pages of free and for-pay skins that beautify the taskbar, window borders, Start menu, and other elements. The free trial won't skin Internet Explorer and has a few other limitations; the full version runs $20.

Wincustomize (service)
Here you'll find a wealth of free wallpaper and screen savers, as well as themes and packages, for Stardock's excellent Windows customization programs. You can nab 50MB of downloads right away, or register (at no cost) and bump that up to 500MB.

SlickRun (download)
If you're a Windows power user who constantly heads to the Run command in the Start menu, SlickRun can save you some time with its floating on-screen command window. You can also create "MagicWords," one-word aliases that quickly launch programs when you type them into the command window.

Vista Start Menu (download)
Despite the name, this beefed-up Start menu runs on Windows XP as well as on Microsoft's newer OS. The much-larger menu can make getting to programs easier if you have a bunch installed, and it also provides quick access to autorun programs that are set to start with Windows.

RealWorld Cursor Editor (download)
Replace any of the 15 Windows pointers with this do-it-all app. You can download ready-made pointers or use the built-in editing tool to create new ones, from scratch or based on existing images.

RocketDock (download)
This launchpad for files and programs brings some Mac OS flavor to Windows, introducing a bit of the Apple operating system's signature great looks and ease of use.

AlfaClock (download)
Windows' taskbar clock is boring and limited. Replace it with this highly customizable display, which shows (or even speaks) the date and the day of the week along with the time.

Xplorer2 (download)
The dual-pane folder viewer and display filters provided in this Windows Explorer competitor can help speed up major file management tasks, and you can still use Explorer whenever you want.

News readers

FeedDemon (download)
It's hard to beat the polished and newly free FeedDemon when it comes to desktop news-reader features. And you can sync it with the Newsgator site to stay on top of news even when you're out and about.

RSS Bandit (download)
Some nice interface touches, such as attractive colored tabs and panels that keep their names when they collapse, make RSS Bandit a useful tool for keeping up with the news.

Feedreader (download)
In Feedreader you can create custom Smartfeeds that pull together news posts from all of your subscribed feeds matching one or more e-mail-like filtering rules. For instance, you can capture all posts that contain "Apple" or "MacOS" in the title or body.

Awasu Personal Edition (download)
This program offers you several nice features, such as a quick full-screen switch for easy news reading on your desktop. The free personal edition, however, updates the content only once an hour.

GreatNews (download)
Six different feed presentation styles, including Essay, Newspaper, and Firefox Sage, make this news reader (in beta) worth checking out.

FreeRange FreeReader (download)
Bring the RSS love to your BlackBerry, J2ME, Nokia, Palm OS, or Windows Mobile smart phone with this mobile news reader. The free version is limited to ten news feeds and relies on your phone's data connection.

Feedshow (service)
A simple and straightforward desktop-app-like reader in a Web browser, Feedshow can switch between resizable two- and three-panel layouts and accepts keyboard shortcuts. And you don't have to download anything to your computer.

RSS Ticker (download)
This Firefox add-on for serious news junkies scrolls updates for your Live Bookmark feed subscriptions across the top or bottom of the browser window. Mouse over a headline for a summary, and click it to bring up the whole article in the browser.

Games

Splume (service)
When you launch a green ball across the screen onto a red or blue ball in this instantly likable online game, the incompatible balls give each other the stink eye. Attach a green to another green, however, and the balls share a gaze of adoration. Add in imaginative level designs and splooshy sound effects, and you have an engaging time sink.

Excit (service)
A fun spreadsheet. No, really. In this online game you lead a sprightly cross-hair cursor to the exit--without hurtling it off the edge of the spreadsheet game board--in order to advance to the next, progressively harder level. And each level of success you achieve provides a password you can use later to restart where you left off.

Command & Conquer Gold (download)
Electronic Arts released the classic Command & Conquer Tiberian Dawn real-time strategy hit as a free download for the game's twelfth anniversary. To install the game, first burn the downloadable .iso files to a CD or access them with a free utility such as Virtual CloneDrive. Then follow the instructions .

Airport Security (service)
Pull an ever-changing list of prohibited items -- canned cheese, a worn shirt, candy bars--from passengers' bodies and luggage quickly enough to keep the line moving in this online Shockwave game.

Dungeon Runners (download)
Free players in this tongue-in-cheek, Diablo-esque MMOG (massively multiplayer online game) can't use the full range of items available to paid-subscription players, but they can still have a great time romping through the dungeons and building their own characters. Five dollars a month gets you the whole shebang.

Little Fighter 2 (download)
Up to four people on the same computer, or up to eight in a network, can battle it out with fists, flung items and fireballs, and other flashy special moves in this anime-like, manic fighting game.

Disaffected (download)
This satirical "anti-advergame," in which players help customers in a dysfunctional FedEx Kinko's, takes a swipe at the genre of games meant to market a company or product.

Freeciv (download)
If talk of Sid Meier's classic game Civilization II evokes fond memories of hours lost to "Just one more turn," try this excellent free clone, which supports up to 30 network players and a host of optional mods for new sounds, rules, and nations.

flOw (download)
Everyone wants to be an aquatic worm-creature, lazily chewing on microorganisms and evolving into something completely different, don't they? Grab a copy and get transformed.

Best download

FreeReader Brings the News to Your Mobile Device

With scores of free programs now available on the Web, an application has to have more than just good looks to get the nod for our favorite shareware product. Our winner brings your news to places other free news readers can't.

FreeRange FreeReader brings the speed and convenience of RSS feeds to a wide array of mobile phones. Install this clean and fast feed reader, and the fun little games on your phone will soon suffer from neglect as you instead go straight for all the latest news reports from your favorite sources.

You can set up everything through your phone, but the better bet is to create your account and feed subscriptions through the Web site on a PC. As with any good news reader, you can import or export OPML lists from other readers, though you're limited to ten subscriptions in the free version. You can also create custom feeds that track news on particular topics or that watch market activity for one or more stock symbols.

After a quick download to your phone, you'll be reading your news in no time in a customizable and well laid-out display. FreeReader starts with article headlines and summaries and downloads the full articles only when you choose, and a typical update for ten feeds is small (around 80KB). But remember to watch your data usage if you don't have an unlimited data plan for your phone.

Best Web app
Slacker Works Hard to Find Music

Over the past year, music "taste sharing" sites have increased in visibility and popularity. They're not only a good way to get hip to new music, but they're good places to meet new people, too.

Despite its name, is no slouch. Rivals such as Last.fm and Pandora garner well-deserved praise, but don't compare to Slacker in ease of use. No matter what your music tastes may be, within about 30 seconds of first arriving at this Internet radio site you can be listening to your pick of a huge number of potential stations.

It gets even better. Slacker helpfully displays the full list of artists that play on any given station, but you don't have to stick with the list. If you start with one of the premade genre stations, you can toss bands you don't like from the lineup. Pick an artist station, which adds similar bands to an artist you search for, and you can also mix in your choice of crooners. You can choose favorite songs to hear them more often, and skip those you don't like (up to six songs per hour for the free level of use).

Add in more fine-tuning options for each station, such as whether to lean toward lesser-known music or top hits, plus a downloadable software player that can run without a browser, and you'll like this hard-working Slacker.

The New Browser War is Good for Microsoft

2008-03-25T19:02:00.001+05:30

uddenly, Mozilla seems mightily concerned about Apple's Safari. Internet Explorer can only benefit from the impending conflict.

Mozilla took a surprisingly proactive approach with Firefox last week, and neither move really had to do with Microsoft.

In an interview with Reuters, Mike Schroepfer, Mozilla's vice president of engineering, claimed that "In many ways it [Firefox 3] is much more stable than anything else out there." The story was published two days after Apple released Safari 3.1. Firefox 3 is currently at Beta 4, with a fifth still expected.

On Friday, Mozilla's CEO, John Lilly, roasted Apple for using its updater to distribute Safari 3.1 to Windows users. Yesterday, Lilly qualified his Apple attack, asserting: "It isn't about competition."

Really?

Mozilla's actions strongly suggest otherwise. Firefox 3's release is still months away but Safari 3.1 is here, now, and it's a surprisingly standards compliant browser. That's a departure for Apple's browser, which had lagged behind Firefox and Internet Explorer. Apple has bragging rights and a finished, new browser; meanwhile, Microsoft and Mozilla are still testing their next-generation browsers. Then there is the matter of the distribution tactic—Apple Software Update offering up Safari 3.1 to Windows users.

As I explained last week, one of Apple's incentives for pushing Safari 3.1--and hard--is that little Google search box in the upper right-hand corner. Mozilla has one of those too. Safari gains could mean less Google revenue for Mozilla.

So Mozilla came out barking at the dog moving in on its territory, with statements asserting Firefox's relevance, and accusing Apple of violating users' trust. I disagree with Lilly. It's all about competition. Safari gains are more likely to come at Firefox's expense than at Internet Explorer's.

My LinuxWatch colleague Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols reviewed Firefox 3 Beta 4 today. He disputes Mozilla's prime-time claims: "Is Firefox 3 ready for production use? Well, my verdict is it's not quite there yet."

On Wednesday, my eWEEK colleague Jim Rapoza praised Apple's browser. For users "who just want a simple and fast Web browser, Safari 3.1 might just be the best choice."

What a lucky break for Microsoft. Firefox has nipped at IE's tail for nearly four years. The biggest IE pain has been Firefox brand gains. Even a 20 percent market share loss to Firefox really wouldn't hurt Internet Explorer. (I doubt the number is that high, as some people have asserted.) The market share numbers are disputable, as most analysts don't accurately track multiple browser usage. Microsoft's problem isn't so much that more people use Firefox but that they now use Internet Explorer and something else.

Microsoft benefits if that something else splits among multiple browsers. More importantly, Firefox could become less of a problem if Mozilla has to focus attention behind, as well as in front.

Dean Hachamovitch, IE general manager, should send Apple CEO Steve Jobs one of those iPhone cakes. "Thanks, Steve! You're the best!" Safari distractions at Mozilla can only benefit browser behemoth Internet Explorer.

The timing is wonderful for Microsoft. IE 8's newfound standards embrace isn't just about Microsoft doing the right thing, as Hachmamovitch's March 3 blog post insinuated. Standards support is just as much a competitive tactic; a way of closing the feature gap on Firefox. While Microsoft tries to make IE 8 into the Firefox-smasher that IE 7 wasn't, Mozilla must engage in a potentially ugly two-front war.

How ugly could it get? The answer will depend much on how many people try Safari and then adopt it. This afternoon, I reviewed browser stats from several of the firms tracking them, including TheCounter.com and OneStat.com. Safari usage/share ranged from about 2.2 percent to 3 percent, and Firefox's was between 13 percent and 16 percent. Net Applications's statistics puts the numbers higher, with more than 17 percent for Firefox and nearly 6 percent for Safari. Whatever the measure, Safari is more likely to take away share from Firefox than Internet Explorer.

Safari has leverage, with Apple Software Update, the iPhone and the iPod Touch, for starters—and that's on Windows. Safari also conceptually benefits from Mac market share gains. I'm not predicting huge share gains for Safari. It's not the amount gained, but from where, that matters and the possible distraction from Mozilla. Share loss equals revenue loss, because of Mozilla's huge dependence on revenue derived from Google search.

The Google search relationship, which expires in November, is important to Mozilla. "Approximately 85 percent of Mozilla's revenue for 2006 was derived from this contract," according to The Mozilla Foundation's 2006 financial statement. No statement has been released for 2007 (that I know of).

So, Mozilla has real financial concerns regarding increased Safari competition. Meanwhile, Microsoft executives can sit back, have a good laugh and continue their prodding IE 8 development.

10 broken technology ideas -- and how to fix them

2008-03-18T20:29:00.001+05:30

Sometimes a technology idea is too good to be true. A flexible keyboard, Internet voting and watching feature films on your smart phone are examples. Today, these concepts are still evolving, but they're broken right now. I'll tell you why and what could be done to fix them once and for all.
1. Ultracompact PCs

Call them whatever you want: ultramobile PCs (UMPC), mobile information devices (MID) or subnotebooks. I call them small PCs, and they are almost indistinguishable from a good smart phone.

For example, the BlackBerry 8820, with its built-in GPS capability and excellent e-mail client, is a better device than the Samsung Q1 Ultra, described by the company as an "ultramobile personal computer." The only real difference is that you squint less with the Q1. But most people don't use a Q1 for gaming or writing long business documents.
As Jon Stewart pointed out at the Oscars, small-screen video is not fun on a device such as the iPhone.

The Apple iPhone is a smarter, sexier, more useable computer than just about any MID, such as the new Toshiba prototype. Meanwhile, there's more power in the OQO, than a regular UMPC, but the screen is just as tiny.

I figure that in less than three years, Apple will release a successor to the iPhone that works more like a Mac and will become the first company to make a true pocket computer -- one that runs any Mac OS X application natively, with a mini-DVI port.
2. Satellite Internet

My main problem with satellite Internet providers is their fair use policies, which penalize users who download too much by throttling their speed back to almost nothing, and then slowly adding more speed over a 24 hour period. Both WildBlue and HughesNet do this, and they claim it helps all users.

However, the Internet is not just for e-mail and simple browsing anymore, it's a pipeline for television, network back-ups, remote access and a myriad of other activities -- not to mention Web apps and streaming media.

Other ISPs -- such as Charter Communications and Qwest-- don't throttle your speed at all. Others, such as Comcast, may use "network management" techniques such as throttling BitTorrent traffic, but they aren't as aggressive as the satellite providers.

Another issue is that the stationary modem that you need for satellite Internet is a bulky device and uses coaxial cable that most people need a technician to install. Also, the required antenna is bigger than a wheel rim, but there's no reason it couldn't be reduced to a size that works with your laptop.

Yet I like the satellite concept because it could make the Internet much more ubiquitous across large swathes of the U.S. Satellite Internet has slowly increased in speed, starting out at only 512Kbit/sec. and currently at about 1.5Mbit/sec. If the technology and speed improve, it could be a solid option.
3. Contact managers

I'd like to retrieve the lost hours spent building up a contacts database. Not long ago, I stopped meticulously entering names, addresses, phone numbers and e-mails and now rely on other methods.

For example, I search Gmail.com for names and addresses. When I want to send a new e-mail, I just type a portion of a name to get the full address, type the message, and send.

For names not in my Gmail archive, I use an online address book such as YellowPages.com or LinkedIn.com.

However, a good contact manager could work like the iPhone: It would see phone number in an e-mail and allow me to right-click and add the name and phone number to a database automatically within Gmail. The database would be smart enough to know if a phone number already matches an existing name, and it would weed out duplicates automatically. I'd never have to type in contacts, because this "auto-database" would work as easily as a mobile phone, support any e-mail client and work in the background. Some contact managers come close -- such as Now Up-to-Date & Contact -- but it still involves a manual process.
4. Digital streaming adapters

They have names like Apple TV, Netgear Digital Entertainer and Sonos, but they all do the same thing: move music, video and photos from your PC in the office to the HDTV in your family room.

They are supposed to solve a persistent dilemma: a PC just doesn't work with a television. A keyboard and mouse are meant for a desk, not a sofa. These adapters add another appliance to an overcrowded entertainment center bulging with DVRs and game consoles.
Putting the digital media adapter in the TV, like this MediaSmart TV, makes sense -- less clutter in your entertainment room.

The fix? Put them right into the television itself. Hewlett-Packard Co. started this with the MediaSmart TV, but I'd like to see it as a standard feature that is more open -- not just based on Windows Media Extender, but supporting any media format over Wi-Fi.
5. Video on a phone

A phone screen is too small for video, and even the iPod Touch can cause eye strain when you watch a two-hour feature film. I'm convinced that anything you only do once or twice in dealing with new technology and find it hard to do -- like load a smart phone with video clips or swap contacts with your laptop over Bluetooth -- is just a novelty and often not worth the effort. I will likely never do it again; it's not worth the time.

Even the iPhone is a poor movie viewer unless you are desperate for a Jason Bourne flick on the bus. But solid-state memory is finally getting cheaper, and it makes sense to load up a mobile device with movies.

What I'd like to see is Bluetooth built into HDTVs so that I can beam a high-resolution movie from my phone or projector in the phone (like the Pico technology being developed by Texas Instruments Inc.) or a mini-DVI port.
6. Web 2.0

For the past two years, the promise of the Semantic Web -- a concept where the Web is smarter and lets you tag information for better searchability -- has reached a crescendo that is finally coming down to earth.

I believe there is no clear definition of Web 2.0 or any sites that fit easily into that box. Instead, Web 1.0 is in a constant state of evolution. Imagine Amazon.com in its infancy -- over the past 10 years, it has been updated with hundreds of new features as Web technology has steadily advanced.
Web aggregators like Pageflakes point to a day when HTML may be replaced by something much more powerful.

What I'm hoping for is a whole new framework for the Web: a wholesale HTML replacement, something like AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) that's faster and more reliable. Or, I'd like to see sites like Pageflakes expand even more so that Web 2.0 dies altogether and gives way to Internet widgets running on a true Internet operating system.
7. Electronic books

A promising technology, or a snake-oil sales pitch? E-books like the Amazon Kindle and Sony eReader could eventually reduce our reliance on paper books. I must admit the crisp 120DPI screens look remarkably like printed material.

In some ways, the Web is a gigantic e-book with an endless amount of information -- even if some of it is unreliable (see Wikipedia.org). Yet, nothing beats a printed book: you can find your place instantly with a dog-ear, it's practically disposable, you can loan it to anyone, and it causes very little eye strain.

Yes, you can load one of 90,000 books on the Kindle and check your e-mail in between chapters of the latest Stephen King novel. But before an e-book reader becomes a major hit with consumers, it must cost about the same as a real book. I'd like a throwaway e-book that's a plastic sheet with electronic ink (like the newspapers in Minority Report) and costs about $30.
8. Internet voting

I like the idea of Internet voting because the easier you make the process, the more people who will vote. Right now, the concept is in a preliminary stage because fingerprint readers or some other form of biometrics hasn't become ubiquitous or foolproof.

I have noticed that just about every enterprise laptop has a fingerprint reader. In the same way that Hollywood studios don't trust the Internet for delivering movies unless they are crippled with digital rights management, voting also needs some extra precautions to ward off fraud.

The idea will finally work once all displays are multitouch (which might be sooner than we think), facial recognition is common and secure, and there is some way of encrypting the connection to assuage any doubts.
9. Video blogs

My main issue with video blogs is that they don't seem well suited for the Web. I'd watch "Rocketboom", "Mahalo Daily" and "WebbAlert" every day if I had the time.

Often, with WebbAlert, I scan through the links -- it usually has a really good summary of the previous day and posts in my RSS reader before just about anyone else -- instead of watching the video blog. The Web is made for instant information (see Facebook, Wikipedia, etc.), and I have a hard time discerning how a video blog is really that different from a 2-minute update on G4 or CNN.

Yes, there's the idea that a video blog has a "long tail" -- there can be a video blog for just about any taste, how to do underwater yoga, stuff that would never make it on a mainstream channel -- suited for any taste, but the farther you go out on the tail, the lower its quality seems to be.

Where is this all going? I'd like to see satellite television providers like Dish Network and DirecTV offer more-flexible plans. I'd watch a video blog station for 10 minutes if it could hold my attention over breakfast and The Wall Street Journal.
10. Flexible keyboards

Flexible, foldable keyboards like the Brando or the Eleksen ElekTex sound like a good replacement for a standard keyboard and could help mobile users type faster when traveling with smart phones.
Sure, they are mobile and new, but typing on a fabric keyboard like this Eleksen model is a real pain.

In practice, it's almost impossible to type fast on these roll-away models. Is there a way to improve on a standard keyboard? Microsoft and Logitech International keep trying, adding extra buttons and features. (I have settled on the Microsoft Wireless Laser Keyboard 6000 V2 with its slight key curvature.)

I doubt we will be typing on multitouch screens any faster, judging by my speed on the iPhone. Speech recognition, even if it understood every word perfectly, still makes it hard to edit your mistakes. The Laser Keyboard is hinting at a true evolution: Eventually, all keyboards will become more tactile, with more responsive keys, a more ergonomic feel -- and someone may figure out how to make them fold up.

Have I missed any technologies, or do you disagree with any of my choices? Let me know in the comments section at the end of this article.

Recognize Internet addiction as a mental illness

2008-03-18T20:18:00.002+05:30

Compulsive e-mailing and text messaging could soon become classified as an official brain illness.

An editorial in this month's issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry says Internet addiction -- including "excessive gaming, sexual pre-occupations and e-mail/text messaging" -- is a common compulsive-impulsive disorder that should be added to psychiatry's official guidebook of mental disorders.

Like other addicts, users experience cravings, urges, withdrawal and tolerance, requiring more and better equipment and software, or more and more hours online, according to Dr. Jerald Block, a psychiatrist at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland. Dr. Block says people can lose all track of time or neglect "basic drives," like eating or sleeping. Relapse rates are high, he writes, and some people may need psychoactive medications or hospitalization.

Dr. Block says about 86 per cent of Internet addicts have some other form of mental illness, but that unless a therapist is looking for it, Internet addiction is likely to be missed.

He argues that the phenomenon warrants being included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, psychiatry's official dictionary of mental illnesses. The next edition is due out in 2012. A draft is expected to be available for public comment next year.

But some say the research into Internet addiction is in its infancy and they wonder how doctors decide when computer use crosses the line from the normal to the pathological.

British psychiatrists, reporting last year in the journal Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, say a "significant minority" -- some estimate between five and 10 per cent of online users -- are addicted to the Internet, and that while early research suggests most are highly educated, highly introverted males, more recent studies suggest the bulk of the problem is occurring among middle-aged women on home computers.

Some use computers like they would drugs or alcohol as a way to escape reality, the researchers say. Addicts may be addicted to everything from the sheer act of typing, to chat rooms, online shopping or three-dimensional, multiplayer games users have described as "heroinware."

According to addiction therapist John Macdonald, of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, computer use becomes problematic when the behaviour starts affecting people's lives.

For example, is the person pre-occupied with getting, and staying, online? "If they're not able to engage in it, is it emotionally upsetting for them?

"The real proof in the pudding: is the amount that you do causing any problems in your life?" Mr. Macdonald says.

China and South Korea are already addressing the problem.

After 10 people died in Internet cafés in South Korea from cardiopulmonary-related deaths -- at least seven reportedly due to online gaming -- the government trained more than 1,000 counsellors in the treatment of Internet addiction, Dr. Block writes.

Microhoo would hurt the Net

2008-03-18T20:17:00.002+05:30

Not to put too fine a point on it, but Google doesn't want Microsoft to acquire Yahoo.

Speaking to reporters during a visit to Beijing, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said that his company "would be concerned by any kind of acquisition of Yahoo by Microsoft," according to a Reuters story published Monday.

Without citing specifics, Schmidt said his observation is based the "things that (Microsoft) has done that have been so difficult for everyone."

He added: "We would hope that anything they did would be consistent with the openness of the Internet, but I doubt it would be."

We can guess he was referring to, among other things, Microsoft's long history of antitrust battles both at home and with the European Union. The latter has continued to fine the software maker. Microsoft's intransigence on licensing prompted another EU fine, for $1.35 billion, just last month.

The irony here is that the EU's approval last week of Google's $3.1 billion purchase of ad services specialist DoubleClick has probably intensified pressure on Yahoo to consider Microsoft's offer. Microsoft's bid was initially valued at $31 a share, although informal talks said to be taking place between the two companies could reshape the terms of the proposed deal.

Supreme Court Clears The Way For Novell To Seek Revenge From Microsoft For Crushing WordPerfect

2008-03-18T20:15:00.004+05:30

Microsoft, marked with the scarlet letter “A” (for “antitrust”), is still paying for yesterday’s sins. Today, the Supreme Court ruled that a private antitrust suit brought on by Novell against Microsoft for crushing WordPerfect can proceed. Microsoft had tried to block the suit on the grounds that the statute of limitations had run out (the alleged crushing of Novell having occurred a dozen years ago) and that Novell did not compete in the operating system market (WordPerfect is a word processor). No dice, says the Supreme Court.

It is hard to remember now, but at one point (in 1990) WordPerfect had nearly 50 percent of the word processor market. That dwindled to under 10 percent six years later because of, um, incompatibilities with Windows. Bloomberg reports:

Novell says the value of WordPerfect fell from $1.2 billion in May 1994 to $170 million in 1996, when the company sold the program to Corel Corp. Novell, based in Waltham, Massachusetts, is seeking three times its losses.

So that is potentially $3 billion, on top of the $5 billion Microsoft has already paid out to everyone from Sun Microsystems to AOL (Time Warner). And that includes $536 million it has already paid to Novell for partially settling antitrust claims over its Netware operating system. Plus, the European Union has withdrawn a total of $2.6 billion (€1.68 billion) in fines over the years from the Microsoft ATM. It sure is expensive being a monopoly.

One person who must be feeling good about all this is former Novell CEO Eric Schmidt, who as Google’s current CEO still likes to point out Microsoft’s scarlet “A”

The top 10 security land mines

2008-03-18T20:15:00.003+05:30

Many companies spend a small fortune and deploy a small army to secure themselves from the many security threats lurking these days. But all those efforts can come to naught when making any of these common mistakes. The results can range from embarrassing to devastating, but security experts say that all are easily avoidable.

And almost all can be done without spending one more dime.

[ See which security products perform as promised in the InfoWorld Test Center’s hands-on reviews. ]

Here are the 10 most common security land mines that experts say you need to avoid.

1. A slip of the finger reveals the company secret
Many of the most prevalent security issues are the result of small technological habits that can easily be avoided.

For instance, imagine how many inadvertent data loss events could be eliminated if more users were instructed to turn off the e-mail address "autofill" feature in Microsoft Outlook and other messaging systems, said Steve Roop, senior director of marketing and products at Symantec.

"When employees are quickly addressing their e-mails, they inadvertently tab and select the wrong name in haste. The employee thinks he is sending an e-mail internally to Eric Friendly, but autofill instead sent it to Eric Foe," Roop said. "We've all done this. [But] if the e-mail contained sensitive data about a proposed merger or acquisition, then the secret is out."

As much as 90 percent of all information leakage events are tied to inadvertent e-mail foibles, including the autofill accidents and mistakes in handling encryption or misinterpreting usage policies, Roop said. Just the simple act of turning off something like autofill could save businesses a lot of headaches at no extra cost, he said.

2. People give away passwords and other secrets without thinking
More often than not, users -- not outside intruders -- are responsible for coughing up the passwords and personal data that allow attackers to break into their computers and their employer's networks to wreak havoc and tarnish their names.

Despite all the education people have been given about phishing, spyware programs, and hacked Web sites, many users are still willing to hand out their data whenever it is requested without checking to ensure that they aren't be duped or misled, said Dave Marcus, security research and communications manager at McAfee. "People assume the legitimacy of sites as presented; this is fundamentally incorrect in a Web world," Marcus said. "The easiest way to steal someone's identity online is simply to ask them for it."

3. A trusted partner ends up not being so trustworthy with your data
Another common security error is found among users who assume that it is fine to send sensitive information such as human resources data to business partners or outsourcing services providers, Roop said. This land mine is made worse when the messages are sent unencrypted.

"The land mine is making the assumption that the person at the HR outsourcer isn't going to send the spreadsheet anywhere else or store the data improperly on their unsecured laptop," he said. "This land mine is true whenever sensitive data is shared via e-mail as part of a business process with third parties."

4. Web-based apps can be portals to leaks and thieves
A common behavior that leads to a lot of security problems includes the use of Webmail or allowing workers to access music-downloading and file-sharing services from the company network, said Marcus.

Such Web-based apps bypass your security filters, as in the case of Webmail, or open a channel to the outside that may carry viruses or worse into your organization.

And if your employees take work home, these risks are magnified. If they use your computers and also do personal activities over the Web, those computers could be compromised, Marcus said. If they bring the data home -- via e-mail or a thumb drive -- they risk it getting lost or stolen.

All of these problems can be avoided fairly easily through enforcement of policies that require the use of secure mail clients over VPNs or encrypted channels (in the case of e-mail), or not allowing users to install apps on their work computer or copy data to removable media (in the case of taking work home). Much of this can be managed through security policies and systems management apps. One difficult channel to block is the use by employees of e-mail to send themselves data, though encryption can help.

5. Hoping the worse doesn’t happen only makes it worse
Nobody wants to have a data breach, but you need to act as if one will, advised Kevin Mandia, chief executive of Mandiant, which specializes in post-breach analysis services and software tools. Every organization can take steps to lessen the impact of a breach once it happens. Unfortunately, most companies wait until it is too late to test or even create their response strategies, he said.

Every company should record the data flow, from who had access when to what systems used the data. But few do, Mandia said. "There's no question, the most common error we see is failure to document what happened," he said. "People hire us and the first thing we ask for is any related documentation that people already have. Most often, people will hand terabytes of data and no formal documentation. Technicians stink at it, and lawyers don't mandate it. So in almost every incident, we go in and ask them what happened and the response is the sound of crickets chirping."

6. Avoiding or diluting response leadership makes breaches worse
Companies also seriously inhibit their ability to respond to breaches by failing to appoint a single leader or small team to spearhead efforts to respond to incidents and chase down important details.

In many firms, the process devolves into a game of pass-the-buck, while others involve so many people in the breach response effort that they actually become a hindrance to the related investigation.

"We often respond and no one is in charge, no one wants to be, and as a result, no one knows what dedication of resources to give the incident in terms of money, tools, or technologies, and no one person individually can balance their day job with the amount of resources needed to handle a major incident," Mandia said.

"On the flip side, some companies now bring too many people to the decision-making table while still trying to respond. We show up and we're immediately briefing 12 people -- and 10 don't need to be there," he said.

7. Handling breach details sloppily tips off the perp
Another common problem is that companies typically fail to establish a "need to know" approach to breaches, which makes it harder to carry out baseline investigations as workers find out about an incident and immediately try to protect their own interests.

If insiders are involved in the problem, they also gain the advantage of knowing that the gig is up and may stop telltale behavior useful to investigators — and often try to cover their tracks, Mandia said.

8. Trusting "silver bullet" technology hides real threats
As regulatory measures that involve IT and data security interests continue to multiply, businesses have invested a lot in technological solutions to plug the holes. But companies commonly believe that installing a specific technology or meeting some individual aspect of a regulation is a silver bullet or a quick fix. It's neither.

"The biggest problem I see is people thinking that simple things like deploying anti-virus [software], patching, and running vulnerability scans are actually what it means to be compliant. They're not approaching it from a risk management standpoint — they're just checking the boxes," said Mike Rothman, an analyst with Security Incite.

Companies often compound this fools' paradise by auditing their limited security fixes and taking a passing grade as confirmation that no more work is needed. "People often think that once they have a positive audit, they're done," Rothman said. "Then the bad guys prove to them that they're not."

9. Spending unthinkingly wastes resources you might need for important threats
Another compliance-related security trap that companies frequently fall into is spending the same effort or expense to protect IT systems with wildly different levels of importance to their organization's security and success, Rothman said.

"Some people make the mistake of treating all security issues equally, and spend the same amount of time and money defending an old application that only five people use that they spend on an online application used by all of their customers," he said.

That approach not only wastes money, but it also can leave more important problems to later consideration — or maybe none at all, once the budget has dried up. "Security people often don't know how to prioritize," Rothman said. "They should look at what happens if something specific breaks and look at how to drive spending from there."

10. Don't save the wrong data
In another common scenario that spells disaster for both security and compliance interests, many companies that process credit and debit cards inadvertently leave transaction logging systems on that store account information. This logging can lead to customer data breaches and PCI (Payment Card Industry) audit failures.

"Naturally, they don't realize they are storing the data a hacker or malicious employee would need to create fake plastic credit cards," said Symantec's Roop. "This is the cardinal sin of PCI compliance. We actually saw this example at a [recent] prospect. It is a big land mine that most likely will result in a failed PCI audit."

Even companies not collecting card data need to make sure that they only save the information they actively need to do business, Roop said. Keeping anything on hand that could be misused by attackers without a clear need to store that data is asking for trouble, he advised. And if it must be retained, then be sure to build a protection method for it as well.

Will Google Buy Adobe to Challenge Silverlight?

2008-03-17T19:50:00.002+05:30

Does Google have a rich Web application in the works, perhaps code-named Gash or Googlelight? Or does it deal for Adobe to corner the market in one fell swoop?

Google's advantages over Microsoft in leveraging the Internet to make money and attract users are well documented, but there is one area Google isn't playing in where Microsoft seems to have Google beaten: rich media applications.

Microsoft March 5 took its Silverlight rich Web app into its second beta. High-tech media and analysts love to position Silverlight as an alternative to Adobe's Flash technology, found on 98 percent of browsers worldwide.

If Microsoft could corral just a slice of the market Flash commands in this age of AJAX and rich Web apps, it would stand to make some serious cash in the Internet economy that Google aims to rule.

Google, art thou lost at sea? Is there a rich Web application in the works, perhaps code-named Gash or Googlelight? Or do you deal for Adobe to corner the market in one fell swoop?

A Google spokesperson provided eWEEK with its stock answer to questions about future plans, noting that its mission is to make all the world's information universally accessible. "We are constantly innovating to continue to deliver on our mission, but we have nothing specific to announce at this time."

The lack of an outright denial is conspicuous, suggesting that the search and applications maker has something up its sleeve. eWEEK polled some experts who follow the rich Web app space.

Gartner analyst Ray Valdes told eWEEK Google has purchased companies in image processing and graphics that could provide rich Web app capabilities.

For example, Google acquired Keyhole as the foundation for Google Earth, later adding SketchUp for 3-D modeling. The company also nabbed photo mapping provider Panoramio and graphic visualization tool Gapminder.

These technologies and the engineers associated with them, coupled with Google's close ties to the Firefox browser community, give Google the means to create a Silverlight killer.

Valdes said Microsoft created Silverlight as a lightweight alternative to its own Windows Presentation Foundation, which he said has been a tough swallow for many enterprises. His point is that Google should strike now while Microsoft scrambles to bring Silverlight to market.

"If they are at all on the ball, they're not going to let a competitor gain an advantage here unnecessarily," Valdes said. "You could even make the case that if they don't respond, heads should roll later."

Forrester Research analyst Jeffrey Hammond told eWEEK that while he's seen no evidence Google is preparing an answer to Silverlight, he wouldn't bet against it.

On the flip side of the coin, he said Google is already making some pretty significant investments in AJAX with Google Web Toolkit and Google Gears. With Android, they also set up a mobile platform which could use their existing AJAX assets as well, he said.

Hammond also noted Google would be challenged on how to get broad distribution of a player to compete with Flash, which is what Microsoft is wrestling with now.

"The obvious answer would be through YouTube, so that's where I'd keep a close watch," Hammond said. "Since they just went through the process of re-encoding media into H.264 to support the iPhone, they could in theory create an H.264 compatible player without screwing that deal up."

IDC's Melissa Webster threw some cold water on this theory, noting that Google doesn't need to have its own technology to improve playback and user experience. "They can use Adobe's stuff [player if they need one at some point; streaming servers if they decide to do real streaming; online editing tools; etc.]," Webster told eWEEK.

Sasha Kouznetsov, founder and president of Web presentation software maker, Spresent, also doubted Google's entry into the market, noting that Google would be more likely to endorse the open-source SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) foundation technology.

Hammond said Google could be just as likely to buy Adobe.

"Why build your own when you can buy something that's ubiquitous in the market already?" Hammond said.

Valdes said he's been thinking about that possibility for awhile, noting that Adobe is a midsize company competing with heavyweights and that Microsoft long ago set the Flash proprietor in its sights. A Google-Adobe union would give Google rich Web app market share and allow Adobe to grow its business.

Webster doused this theory, saying that Google doesn't need to buy Adobe to accomplish what it wants with rich interaction. She added that Adobe's core business is packaged software for the desktop and not the cloud computing model Google espouses. "That would be a distraction."

Whether Google pulls the trigger on Adobe or not is anyone's guess, but Hammond noted that it would be an interesting response to Microsoft's impending purchase of Yahoo.

That much is certain.

Is Yahoo is best way for Microsoft to spend its cash?

2008-03-17T19:49:00.001+05:30

Microsoft is likely to prevail in its Yahoo bid — and most likely without raising its offer. But just because Microsoft can buy the No. 2 search vendor doesn’t necessarily mean it should.

Those are the results of a new poll of Wall Street analysts by Reuters. Reuters polled eight Microsoft analysts and 14 Yahoo analysts on their latest views of the prospects of the Microsoft acquisition of Yahoo. Eight of the eight Wall Street analysts who closely follow Microsoft predicted the deal would transpire, as did 14 of 15 of the Yahoo analysts.

The Reuters poll found Wall Street brokers who follow either company remain convinced that Microsoft will prevail in its takeover. Eight of eight Microsoft analysts surveyed and 14 of 15 Yahoo analysts believe Microsoft will get the deal done.

The part of the findings I was most interested to read:

“While all the Microsoft analysts in the poll believe a deal will get done, there was some argument over whether this is the best use of Microsoft’s cash reserves, which stood at $21 billion at the end of December.

“Microsoft, which has predicted the (Yahoo) transaction will break even or be accretive in the second full year after the deal’s closing, is expected to dip into a good chunk of its cash and issue some debt to finance the Yahoo acquisition.

“Analysts argue that the short-term return on an investment in Yahoo does not match that of money reinvested in the software maker’s own operations or other, smaller acquisitions. Longer-term the return may be better, but there is significant risk in combining the companies that cannot be overlooked.

“The Yahoo acquisition is ‘absolutely not’ Microsoft’s best use of cash, said Morningstar analyst Toan Tran. The money it is using for Yahoo could be put toward several smaller Web acquisitions that carry less risk, he said.”

The Reuters story claims that even if Microsoft depleted its cash reserves, it can “easily rebuild its bank account.”

Microsoft sure seems to be spending like crazy on acquisitions lately (especially advertising-related ones). And it needs to keep more than a little pocket money on hand for those pesky fines and lawsuits that seem to keep materializing.

I am still not not a backer of or believer in Microsoft’s Yahoo acquisition. I understand Microsoft needs ad inventory and a bigger share of the search market. But $44 billion (or, as the value now stands, $41 billion) sure seems like a lot to spend on a company which has a whole lot of overlap with Microsoft.

Flickr Video beta due in April

2008-03-17T19:47:00.001+05:30

In early February, in the midst of Microsoft's surprise bid to acquire Yahoo, I wrote about Yahoo's Flickr Video coming soon. It's been a long time coming. I first asked Flickr co-founder Caterina Fake about a Flickr video service in December 2005.

Stewart Butterfield

After spending a few hours at the Flickr fourth anniversary party in San Francisco on Saturday night, the "coming soon" line was uttered by various Yahoo people, including Flickr co-founder Stewart Butterfield. Upon further investigation, it appears that "coming soon" means that Flickr Video will debut in beta next month.

Flickr, which was acquired by Yahoo in March 2005, defined the concept of photo sharing, but has been slow to extend the service into the video world. In the meantime, Google's YouTube has become the primary destination for video sharing, capturing one out of every three of the online videos in the U.S., according to comScore Media Metrix. Fox Interactive Media (MySpace) accounted for 6 percent of the nearly 10 billion videos viewed online in the U.S. in January. Yahoo sites, Yahoo Video, claimed 3.2 percent of video viewing.

Kaku Srivastava

Flickr Video will not replace Yahoo Video, unlike Yahoo Photos, which was folded into Flickr. The audience for Flickr is different, Kakul Srivastava, director of product management at Flickr, told me. She used the term "authenticity" to convey the esprit de corps of the Flickr photo community, which numbers more than 23 million contributors.

Flickr has been a pure photo site since its inception. Adding video into the mix has to be done in a way acceptable to the community. In other words, launching a Video service primarily to compete more with YouTube would turn the community off. It has to appeal, in an "authentic" way, to the Flickr community.

While YouTube has a large share of market, video is growing fast on the Web. The problem for Yahoo is that many Flickr members, like myself, have gone to other places to share videos. Winning them back is going to be a challenge. We'll find out next month if all the time spent figuring out how to bring video to Flickr has been worthwhile.

The 7 dirtiest jobs in IT

2008-03-13T22:38:00.001+05:30

Working in IT isn't always pretty. After all, we can't all work on the cutting-edge technologies all the time. Some of us have to get dirty -- in some cases, literally.

Unfortunately, dirty jobs -- whether you're being chained to a help desk, hacking 30-year-old code, finding yourself wedged between warring factions in the conference room, or mucking about in human effluvia -- are necessary to make nearly every organization tick. (Well, maybe not the human effluvia part.)

The good news? Master at least one of them, and you're pretty much guaranteed a job with somebody. We don't guarantee you'll like it, though.

Here are seven of the dirtiest jobs in IT, and why your organization needs them.

[ Talkback: Got some dirty IT jobs we missed? Post your nominations for the worst of the worst below ]

Dirty IT job No. 7: Legacy systems archaeologist

Dirty IT job No. 7: Legacy systems archaeologist
WANTED: INDIVIDUALS FAMILIAR WITH 3270, VAX/VMS, COBOL, AS/400, AND OTHER LEGACY SYSTEMS NO ONE ELSE REMEMBERS. MUST BE ABLE TO TYPE ENTIRELY IN CAPITAL LETTERS FOR EXTENDED PERIODS. APPLICANTS MUST MEET MINIMUM AGE REQUIREMENT OF 55.

Believe it or not, COBOL developers are still in demand, says Jim Lanzalotto, vice president of Yoh, a technology talent and outsourcing firm.

"I'm looking at a job listing right now for a PeopleSoft business analyst," says Lazalotto. "Buried in the middle of the description, it says, 'writes COBOL as needed.' Here's another one, for a senior program analyst with a background in IBM WebSphere, EDI, Unix, and secure file transfer protocol -- 'knowledge of COBOL a plus.' Imagine your average 29-year-old hipster applying for one of these jobs. 'You want me to know what?'"

You'd think these old systems would have died off years ago, but larger companies -- especially in financial services, manufacturing, retail, and health care -- cling to them like drunken sailors to a lamppost.

"I know of at least one major office supply retailer that powers its site by connecting AS400s to Web front ends," says Andrew Gelina, CEO of Syrinx Consulting, in Waltham, Mass. "The cost of rewriting or migrating these apps is huge and the risk is high, so they look for any way possible to reuse and reconnect to modern technologies. It's like marine archeology. You'll need a spelunker to dive deep into them, figure out how they can be bolted and duct-taped into a more modern integration engine, like a SOAP/XML front end."

The good news? Experienced techs willing to do these dirty jobs may discover reliable income streams as they ease into semi-retirement.

"There's an interesting inversion principle at work here," Gelina says. "The value of people with skills built around those systems had been going steadily down for a long time. Now that companies can't find anyone to work on them, the reverse is true. If you're a consultant who specializes in one of those older technologies, you've got a pretty good niche."

Dirty IT jobs home | Dirty IT job No. 6: Help desk zombie

Dirty IT job No. 6: Help desk zombie
Excellententry-level opportunity for multitasking individual with low self-esteem. Ability to read from scripts a plus. Potential to move up to bug scraper, password reset technician, or tape rotation coordinator.

Here's the job that every IT professional hates. Bruce Kane, senior consultant at a messaging consultancy in North Carolina, defines a dirty job as "anything where you have to visit or talk to end-users. Help desk, desk side support, etc. Icky! Users have cooties!"

[ Forthe best in user idiocy, see "More stupider user tricks: IT horror stories redux" ]

Of course, users often feel the same way about support techs, says Kris Domich, principal datacenter consultant at Dimension Data.

"When you contact tech support, a lot of people feel like they're either talking to an idiot or being treated like one," Domich says. "There's a fine line between being courteous and being patronizing, and many techs don't know where that line is."

As more organizations move to 24/7 operations, they may also need the services of the more specialized Graveyard Support Vampire, who shuns the daylight and lives by the glow of the network console.

"Why this person actually wants to forge his or her days for the joy of nocturnal employment is a dark, dark mystery that shall forever span the vast expanse of space and time," says Lawrence Imeish, principal consultant for Dimension Data's Converged Communications Group. "But it's often imperative that IT folks manage their equipment off-hours so as to avoid impact on day-to-day business activities on their networks. System reboots, patch applications, and troubleshooting also typically occur after-hours and could be a cause for system failure in and of themselves if not properly addressed during the evening hours."

Dirty IT jobs home | Dirty IT job No. 5: On-site reboot specialist

Dirty IT job No. 5: On-site reboot specialist
Seeking individuals for on-site support of end-users. Must be familiar with three-fingered Ctrl-Alt-Del salute and power cord reconfiguration. Ability to withstand a variety of environments and personality types; concealed-weapons permit a plus. Individuals with anger management issues need not apply.

Closely related to the help desk zombie, but even lower on the totem pole, is the on-site reboot specialist, says Scott Crawford, research director at Enterprise Management Associates in Boulder, Colo. Unlike help desk or support vampires, the on-site rebootnik must venture out into the physical world and deal with actual people.

[ Formore fear and loathing of end-user interaction, check out the original "Stupid user tricks: Eleven IT horror stories" ]

Joel Bomgar worked his way through college as an on-site support specialist. He recalls hot sticky summers spent driving Mississippi back roads in 100-degree heat, providing "sweatnical" support to clueless end-users.

"First there's the heat," Bomgar says. "Then you show up at the customer site, and the server room is a closet. Loud, dusty, dingy, and there's nowhere to sit down. You end up standing wedged between the server and the wall for hours at a time. It's like flying on a regional jet. Everything about it is uninviting."

It was this experience, Bomgar says, that ultimately inspired him to start Bomgar Corp. (formerly Network Streaming), a Ridgeland, Miss.-based provider of remote service solutions for SMBs. By adding a Bomgar Box appliance to a company's network, remote technicians anywhere in the world can access an end-user's PC and troubleshoot it.

Providing non-site support also puts some welcome physical distance between techie and customer.

"What makes on-site support dirty is interfacing with the user," Bomgar says. "People's workstations are often a nightmarish wreck. They issue you into a tiny room covered with dust, grit, and grime. The keyboard's broken and the mouse doesn't work, but they're used to it."

For their part, customers don't have to stop working while the tech takes over their machines (or stand near some college kid who's just been driving in 100-degree heat).

"Tech support becomes so much cleaner when you don't have to go deal with all those environmental variables," Bomgar says. "You get to interface with the technology without the grit, grime, and dirt associated with support."

Dirty IT jobs home | Dirty IT job No. 4: Interdepartmental peace negotiator

Dirty IT job No. 4: Interdepartmental peace negotiator
Lookingfor self-starter skilled at moderating tech disputes between warring factions within the same company or between company and its client. Must possess experience in ego-stroking, manipulative massage, and hand-to-hand combat.

Cats and dogs, Democrats and Republicans, Martians and Venutians -- they're downright chummy compared to warring departments within many enterprises. Unfortunately, at some point they've got to pull together for the good of the company. That's when you call in the negotiator to smooth ruffled feathers and break up the fights.

[ Dishyour interdepartmental dirt on the QT to Off the Record ]

This comes up a lot when different sides of the organization need to collaborate on, say, a company wiki, intranet, or portal, says Syrinx's Gelina. Somebody's got to play the heavy -- what Gelina calls the "Portal Majority Whip" -- to keep everyone on the same page, following the same rules.

"If someone is not riding herd on this, renegade elements will crop up and threaten the stability and usability of the portal," Gelina explains.

The problem? "The IT people want centralized control, while the typical users want to move forward at the speed of business without restrictions," Gelina says. "They don't want to have to wait for IT to decide something before they can move. Satisfying those two camps can be tough."

But this battle isn't always geeks against suits; sometimes it's geeks vs. geeks. Dimension Data's Domich likens the job to herding kittens.

"The Cat Herder has to keep multiple architect-level technologists focused on a common cause to a common problem," Domich says. "Even if it seems redundant at times, it’s essential to have systems -- or, in this case, people -- in place to keep technology architects on schedule."

Domich adds, "IT project managers are gluttons for punishment." As if we didn't know.

Dirty IT jobs home | Dirty IT job No. 3: Enterprise espionage engineer (black ops)

Dirty IT job No. 3: Enterprise espionage engineer (black ops)
Seeking slippery individuals comfortable with lying, cheating, stealing, breaking, and entering for penetration testing of enterprise networks. Requirements include familiarity with hacking, malware, and forgery; must be able to plausibly impersonate a pest control specialist or a fire marshal. Please submit rap sheet along with resume.

Social engineer, con artist, penetration tester, or white hat hacker -- whatever you call it, Jim Stickley has a dirty job that actually sounds like fun. As VP of engineering and CTO of TraceSecurity in Baton Rouge, La., Stickley gets to talk his way into a client's offices, sneak into their datacenters, make off with the company's vitals, then come back later to show them where their internal security broke down.

[ Fortips on penetration testing, see "How to think like an online con artist" ]

The best part? He gets to wear disguises. Pest control specialist, AC repairman, OSHA inspector -- Stickley and his crew have a closet full of uniforms. But fireman is a particular favorite. "At one place you're the fire inspector, and girls fall all over you," Stickley says. "The next place you're wearing the pest inspector suit and you're the scum of the earth."

First, Stickley and his team take over the company's e-mail system and schedule an appointment. Then they show up in the appropriate fake attire. Whoever has been assigned to watch them usually leaves after about five minutes, Stickley says. If not, they send her out to get them coffee or offer to show her a (fake) dead mouse they found in the corner. That usually does the trick.

Once she's gone, they sneak into the security room and take all the backup tapes, load Trojans onto the servers, or plug wireless devices into the network and hack it from the parking lot.

"If we can get the backup tapes, we're done," Stickley says. "Every piece of data you'd want – mothers' maiden names, Social Security numbers -- is on those tapes. We've also walked out with computers, boxes filled with loan documents, and applications for patents that have been drawn up but not submitted. It's amazing."

Stickley says he's penetrated more than 1,000 locations and has yet to be thwarted. The dirty part: Coming back the next day to face the people you just 0wned.

"You feel dirty, if nothing else," Stickley says. "People come up to you and they're mad. 'I can't believe I got you a cup of coffee.' But ultimately you're just trying to help them out. Nobody gets fired for screwing up. The whole point is to learn from the experience."

There's at least one person who doesn't gain much from Stickley's exercise in creative insecurity, however.

"I feel really bad for the real pest inspector," he says. "The next time he shows up, boy does he get beaten down."

Dirty IT jobs home | Dirty IT job No. 2: Datacenter migration specialist

Dirty IT job No. 2: Datacenter migration specialist
Position involves relocating and reconfiguring datacenter over impossible distances within a ridiculously short time frame. Prior experience as cable jockey, rack-n-stack grunt, console monkey, and/or log zombie a plus.

Moving a datacenter is a dirty job. Moving one halfway across the country in 48 hours -- that's a really dirty job. But that was the task facing Scott Wilson and his firm, Marathon Consulting, when one of its clients needed to close down its Chicago datacenter the day before Thanksgiving 2003 and open for business in New York the following Monday.

[ Thinkyou've got the smarts to rise above, find out with our fun-filled IT IQ Test ]

Wilson tried to persuade his financial services client to set up a duplicate center in New York; they could power down the Windy City operation, light up the Big Apple, then gradually move equipment as it was needed. No good, said the client -- too expensive. So at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, his people loaded roughly 80 machines into trucks and drove nonstop to New York.

"We tracked the trucks using GPS, so when they reached the Holland Tunnel, we went to the datacenter," says Wilson, managing director of the Brooklyn-based Marathon. "We spent the next 48 hours setting it up and getting operational. But we got it up."

Unplugging everything and cleaning out the muck that's collected over the years is bad, Wilson says. "Cables sit for years in half-baked air-conditioned rooms that are dusty and nasty."

But the worst part is putting Humpty Datacenter back together again. "Most datacenters aren't labeled correctly and have been put together by 10 different consultants and in-house employees who each have their own ways of doing things," Wilson says. "And recabling someone else's work is always fun."

Fortunately, migrating datacenters isn't something firms do very often. But when they do, it's an ordeal. IT pros resent having to do grunt work, but they also understand it's part of the job.

"On the other hand, moving 10 racks of servers from Chicago to New York in 48 hours at the end of the day feels amazing," says Wilson. "The gratification is definitely there."

Dirty IT jobs home | Dirty IT job No. 1: Sludge systems architect

Dirty IT job No. 1: Sludge systems architect
Seeking individuals with demonstrated ability to squeeze over, under, or between confined spaces to solve technical problems. Candidates should be prepared to work long hours for low pay under adverse conditions. Must not be allergic to sawdust, vermin, airborne pathogens, or sewage.

Sometimes dirty jobs are just that -- dirty. These days, technology goes everywhere: oil rigs, pulp mills, sewage plants, you name it. Somebody's gotta clean up the mess and keep the lights on.

"One of my early network projects was a network upgrade for a plywood mill," says Roberta J. Flinn, a senior IT architect for IBM Global Services' network practice in Beaverton, Ore. "We successfully found all but one of the switches to be upgraded. After a full day of searching and climbing around in the 'rafters,' we finally found the switch on a mezzanine above the planers. It was completely covered with about 6 inches of sawdust and still running."

But few IT gigs get earthier than Dan King's job as a process control engineer for a Texas sewage treatment facility in the mid-1990s.

"Among other things," King says, "I was responsible for crawling around the sludge dryer -- that's where the poo goes after it's extracted from the water -- trying to figure out how to program the computers to run the conveyors at speeds that would get the sludge dry enough so that it's not a sloppy muddy mess, yet not so dry and dusty that it would catch on fire."

A particularly smelly fire was the reason King was assigned to the project in the first place, he adds pungently.

To keep the "sludge" at the right consistency, King used an '80s-era programming language called CL, made by Honeywell Industrial Control Systems, to move the conveyor belts at precisely the right speed and send the right amount of electricity to the dryers. That was the easy part.

"Then I had to crawl around the belt and reach in with my glove to check the consistency of this muddy, slushy mess while watching the temperature."

After that formative experience, King went to grad school. He's now an SAP consultant and NetWeaver Integration specialist for CapGemini in Houston. He says even that job can get dirty sometimes, especially when he needs to convince clients to give his people access to the things they need to get their work done.

"Some days, I'm still up to my hips in poo, but it's bull poo," King says.

Web 2.0: The skills behind the buzzword

2008-03-13T22:37:00.004+05:30

"Web 2.0" is a phrase that's been around for a few years, but it still has some uncertainty around it. Is it just marketing hype, or does it represent a substantial change in the way companies approach Web technology? More to the point, what does it mean for your career?

If you're a regular Computerworld reader, chances are good you already know that Web 2.0 generally refers to Web-based applications and services that provide for greater collaboration among people and organizations. Web 1.0 comprised static content for site visitors, but Web 2.0 trumpets enhanced user experiences through mainstays like blogs, wikis, podcasts, forums and other such features. Mashups, another Web 2.0 staple, combine two or more separate elements into a single application, such as an interactive map overlaid with sortable restaurant locations. Web 2.0 hasn't overturned most companies' fundamental Web strategies, but it has created an ongoing need for particular types of skills.
Web 2.0 skills

It's important to know that Web 2.0 isn't made up of a specific set of technologies, languages or tools, but rather a set of traits that make a Web site feel and behave more like a desktop application. It's about a rich, dynamic user experience that includes an open-source model at its core -- that is, users contribute to the experience. There are no hard and fast programming languages or protocols that define Web 2.0, but many Web sites that fit the category make use of the Microsoft .Net Framework, AJAX, XHTML and HTML, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and support for user-generated content such as wikis or forums. Many firms are embracing Web 2.0 to create and improve their Web-based applications and Web sites. Companies are increasingly using AJAX, for example, to enable visitors to access new data on a site without having to refresh the entire page.

Employers of all sizes are seeking IT professionals who have Web 2.0 development skills and experience. Organizations look for individuals who have expertise with Web design, programming and applications creation. Candidates with Web 2.0 development skills are typically offered higher starting salaries than their counterparts who lack that expertise, according to the Robert Half Technology 2008 Salary Guide.
How to gain Web 2.0 expertise
If you haven't developed the right skills for Web 2.0-related initiatives, it's not too late. Because experts in this area are still in short supply, some firms are willing to invest in training for promising employees.

Even if your employer isn't currently pursuing Web 2.0 technologies, it will likely do so in the near future, so you may be able to make a persuasive case for building your expertise now. Getting up to speed may require less work than you anticipate. AJAX, for instance, is not a new technology, but rather a new take on established ones. Learning to leverage this tool may mean simply enhancing your knowledge of JavaScript, DOM, XML/XHTML and CSS.

As with most IT skills, many training options are available. Universities and private providers offer formal on-site classes and online training courses that you can take at your convenience. Entire Web sites are devoted to Web 2.0 development, offering resources ranging from research articles to message boards where people share information about the uses and challenges of the technology.
Putting Web 2.0 to work

You'll need more than just solid programming skills, however, to make Web 2.0 stick. Web 2.0 is about serving the needs of clients and customers, which requires an understanding of what appeals to specific audiences. Experts in Web 2.0 often collaborate with marketing and other non-IT staff members to develop a company's online strategy. Basic classes in business communication, project management, Web design and consumer marketing can be wise supplements to technical training.

The hype surrounding Web 2.0 may fade, but the real changes it represents won't go away anytime soon. As a result, taking the time to acquire or improve your Web 2.0 skills can be beneficial to your career. With skilled developers in short supply, you'll be of greater value to your current firm and put yourself in a stronger position when searching for new employment.

Blogging Good For Your Well Being

2008-03-13T22:37:00.003+05:30

Researchers from Melbourne's Swinburne University of Technology say that blogging makes people feel happier.

Two studies examining the psychological benefits of blogging done by psychologist James Baker and Dr. Susan Moore are being published in the journal Cyber Psychology and Behavior.

The studies found that blogging can help people feel less depressed in two months and that bloggers have better social support and friendship networks than those who do not blog. Blogging helped people feel more connected and less lonely. Bloggers also felt more self-confidence and had a better feeling of self-worth and were more comfortable asking others for help.

In addition to blogging helping people feel better, the study found that using social networks like MySpace or Facebook also made people feel better. Users of social networks whether they blogged or not said they felt less anxious, stressed and depressed after two months of online social networking.

" Keeping a blog is a bit like writing a diary," said Baker. "It helps people vent their emotions, talk about their feelings and problems. The difference is that while a diary is private, blogging invites feedback from others."

This is why I’ll always remain a Microsoft skeptic

2008-03-13T22:36:00.002+05:30

As its leadership has changed, so, too, has Microsoft. But I am never going to stop being skeptical of Microsoft’s motives.

Microsoft Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie may profess that the company’s top priorities are transparency, standards and interoperability. But regardless of these kinds of pronouncements, the Softies seem to believe that insisting their actions are altruistic and customer-motivated — even when they are really motivated by lawsuit threats and other, less-palatable reasons — will fool its constituencies.

The latest case in point: The relaxation of the Windows Vista End-User License Agreement (EULA) to allow customers to virtualize the less pricey, lower-end SKUs of Vista. When Microsoft finally relented in January and allowed Vista Home Basic and Vista Home Premium to be virtualized, company officials attributed the change of heart to a newfound “maturity in the industry,” in terms of being able to trust “what’s under the virtual machine.”

But the real reason for Microsoft’s capitulation became clear on March 7 via a new joint-status report in the Microsoft-Department of Justice case. It turns out BIOS maker Phoenix Technologies (a long-time Microsoft partner) filed a complaint with antitrust regulators about Microsoft’s virtualization restrictions. From the status report:

“Phoenix, which had recently announced a virtualization product, complained that Microsoft’s EULA restrictions would deter OEMs from including its product on new PCs, and also deter consumers from using virtualization software made by Phoenix and other companies.

“After discussions with Plaintiff States and the TC, Microsoft agreed to remove the EULA restrictions and has done so.”

This isn’t the first time in recent memory that Microsoft buried its real motivations for its actions. A few days after announcing what it touted as sweeping interoperability pledges made for the good of its customers and partners, Microsoft was fined more than $1 billion by the European Commission for continuing to drag its feet for failing to make information required to allow its competitors and partners to build software and services that would be interoperable with Microsoft’s own wares.

Meanwhile, I’m still wondering why the Redmondians really flip-flopped and decided to support super-standards mode in Internet Explorer 8. Microsoft claims that Opera Software’s antitrust complaint had no bearing on its decision. But Microsoft’s decision to throw a quote from its chief counsel into its IE standards press release didn’t seem like an action motivated by developer and customer love and affection.

In the Phoenix case, Microsoft’s behavior change staved off a potential antitrust investigation. In the interoperability case, Microsoft’s gyrations were in vain; the company was still fined by the European regulators. But in both cases — and a growing number of examples — Microsoft’s failure to be upfront regarding its reasons for its behavioral changes leads me to continue to assume the worst about any technology, policy or strategy changes the company makes.

What about you? Do revelations like these make you more of a Microsoft skeptic? Or do you think the Softies are just doing what most execs would do: Hoping against hope that the motivations leading to its actions never come to light?

Visual Studio-Language Futures Page

2008-03-13T22:33:00.004+05:30

Futures Overview

This gateway site will evolve over time as a place where posts about the future of Micrsoft's languages can be place. It is designed to give insight into the plans for teams such as Visual Basic and C++ that are part of Visual Studio. Each post will highlight one or more key subjects that will impact users of these core Visual Studio languages. If you wish to comment on one of the topics discussed here, click the discussions tab and find the thread on the topic you want to discuss. You will sometimes find subjects broken out on the Issue Tracker. You can use this latter tool to vote for the options that attract your attention.
What to expect...
It is important that everyone has the right expectations. The information on these pages are meant to be a helpful guideline for developers, and not a binding commitment. We are not attempting to give a complete list of features in the product, but only to share what we can in a way that will be easily accessible to all developers who are interested in the direction of developer tools. The Visual Studio schedule, unforeseen technical problems, intellectual property rights and competitive pressures may impact our schedules or our ability to share our plans. We will, however, do our best to keep you up to date on the latest news from the teams as they design and implement future versions of developer tools.

Microsoft Futures is not designed to present a detailed specification of future features. Instead, its purpose is to outline in broad strokes, and easy to understand terms, the directions that team will take in the future.

MIX: Users tout Silverlight's link to .Net developer skills

2008-03-13T22:33:00.003+05:30

Silverlight, Microsoft's cross-browser plug-in technology for rich multimedia experiences, is making the rounds as an alternative to Adobe Systems's rival Flash platform. Observers and early users of Silverlight at the MIX08 conference in Las Vegas last week emphasized, among other things, its accommodations for .Net development skills.

"The thing that makes Silverlight interesting, especially [for] .Net developers is that you can use C#," said Carl Kenne, a developer at .Net consultants Dotway in Sweden.

This is unlike the rival Adobe Systems Flash platform, which requires hiring external people familiar with Adobe's technology, Kenne said.

Still, in examining Silverlight's visual capabilities, as opposed to what Flash offers, Kenne could not really see a difference. Microsoft might say Silverlight offers sharper video capabilities, but Adobe would probably say the same thing about its own technology, said Kenne. "It's very similar. It's hard to just by looking at it see that this is Flash and this is Silverlight," Kenne said.

Another attendee also lauded Silverlight. "For us, it's a home run," said Andy Norris, director of technology at Handel Information Technologies, which develops criminal justice and human services applications.

Silverlight enables development of the same application for the desktop and the Web, he said, noting that XAML can be used on both the desktop and browser, he said. "We can get everything done with less than half the work," said Norris.

Flash, he said, has been focused on designers as opposed to developers. "It's a really big deal for designers, and every designer out there knows Flash, but developers really haven't been a big part of the Flash story," Norris said.

But Norris expressed concern about follow-ups on pledges pertaining to the Silverlight platform. Silverlight is set to run on Linux and mobile clients but does not yet, Norris said. (A beta version of Silverlight for Linux, Novell's Moonlight software, is available.)

NBC's Perkins Miller, company vice president of digital media, talked at MIX about his company's plans to stream 2,200 hours of live Olympics coverage using Silverlight. Microsoft's technology will enable, for example, a user to access a biography of basketball player LeBron James while watching USA Olympics basketball.

"The ability to sort of touch the screen and get information is something you can really only get with the Silverlight-enhanced product," Miller said in an interview after the conference.

In choosing Silverlight, Miller cited NBC's existing relationship with Microsoft via the MSNBC broadcast channel. "It was a broader partnership with Microsoft overall that really made this make sense, and, of course, the technology of Silverlight is really impressive," Miller said.

Asked about the benefits of Silverlight over Flash, Miller emphasized that he was not a developer, but that in his experience in working with Silverlight, Microsoft has been able to take new steps in terms of integrating data and creating new navigation.

NBC plans to show 25 sports streamed live via NBCOlympics.com and Silverlight. All 34 sports will be available via video on-demand.

While Silverlight 2 currently is only a beta product, NBC is not worried. "We're very confident in Microsoft's ability to deliver this product," said Miller.

Software developer iBloks, which works with advertisers, provides a 3D platform that leverages Silverlight.

"Really, Microsoft's technology with Windows Presentation Foundation and now with Silverlight is allowing us to really leverage not just the connectivity of broadband but the power of the graphics chip to create incredibly beautiful ads and interactive experiences," said Julia Miller, founder, CEO and president of iBloks. iBloks also outputs to other technologies, such as Google Gadgets and Flash, but considers Silverlight the best scenario, she said.

An Adobe official questioned the notion that Silverlight offers an advantage by leveraging .Net development skills.

"Well, that's kind of like saying that the nice thing about Flex and Flash is that it lets you build great rich Internet experiences without having to learn .Net," said Ben Forta, Adobe director of platform evangelism. "Obviously, whether you are trying to learn Flash/Flex or Silverlight, you are going to have to learn the platform."

For coders, Adobe's Flex requires no more than learning XML tags and ActionScript to deliver applications that run on more than 98% of desktops, taking advantage of Flash Player, Forta said. "The fact of the matter is that Microsoft is now starting down this road with Silverlight, and the Flash platform is already tried and tested and proven and has been so for over a decade," he said

At Schematic, which has provided Silverlight development services for NBC, a company official hailed the technology's benefits but also gave a nod to the Flash platform as well.

"Silverlight is a really important enabling technology for very high-quality video experiences," said Matthew Rechs, CTO at Schematic. Silverlight and Flash provide "different ways of achieving the same thing," Rechs said. But Flash is more widely used by designers, while Microsoft tools are better utilized by developers, he said.

Silverlight gives users "a way of making these rich media experiences that traditionally were only available using Flash," said Rechs.

Flash, he said, has had a big advantage in its market share and its success in enabling video to be watched on the Internet. Flash has been widely adopted by advertisers for bringing ad messages to Web content, said Rechs. Schematic has worked with Flash clients as well, he said.

Microsoft Adding Sony Blu-ray Support To Windows

2008-03-13T22:32:00.002+05:30

Microsoft is developing software that will add native support for devices that play Sony's Blu-ray high definition movie format to the Windows operating system, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said.

"We've already been working on, for example, in Windows, device driver support for Blu-ray drives and the like," said Ballmer, speaking at the Microsoft's Mix '08 conference. Ballmer also said that Microsoft is "going to support Blu-ray in ways that are important," according to a transcript of his remarks posted on the company's Web site.

The Mix '08 conference was held last week in Las Vegas.

Microsoft until recently used Toshiba's HD DVD format to add HD movie playback to its Xbox 360 gaming console. That practice abruptly ended last month when Toshiba announced its decision to kill HD DVD after virtually all major Hollywood studios threw their weight behind Blu-ray.

Many observers felt Toshiba's move would prompt Microsoft to expand the range of HD content available on its Xbox Live online service rather than turn to rival Sony's technology. But Ballmer's comments at Mix '08 indicate that the company hasn't ruled out Blu-ray for the Xbox.

"I think the world moves on. Toshiba has moved on. We've moved on. We'll support Blu-ray in ways that make sense," Ballmer said. "Today, I think it is actually pretty important to have some kind of drive (that supports HD content)," he added.

Last week, Sony Electronics U.S. president Stan Glasgow revealed at a media dinner in San Francisco that Microsoft and Sony are in discussions aimed at adding Blu-ray to the Xbox, according to an account of the event published by London's Financial Times.

Glasgow said his company also is engaged in talks that could see Sony Blu-ray devices added to Apple products, according to the paper.

Ballmer, however, made clear at Mix '08 that over the long term Microsoft sees the Internet, and not discs, as the primary vehicle for HD content access. "Five years from now, it may not make a bit of difference" whether the Xbox or other devices have DVD drives, Ballmer said.

AI Program Thinks Like a 4-Year-Old

2008-03-13T22:30:00.001+05:30

Virtual synthetic characters with the thoughts, feelings and beliefs of real humans can also contribute to homeland security, said Selmer Bringsjord, head of the department of cognitive science at Rensselaer and the leader of the project. One area is training, to simulate interaction with synthetic characters that are "very robust and have these actual religious and other mindsets" common to people from other societies.

Researchers at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have created a reasoning virtual 4-year-old child.

The "child," named "Eddie," can reason about his own beliefs to draw conclusions in a manner that matches human children of that age.

To test Eddie's reasoning powers, the group created a demo in Second Life in which Eddie was shown someone placing an object in one location then leaving the virtual room, followed by a second person who moved the object to another location in the room. Eddie was then asked where the first person would look for the object when he got back.

Eddie's response was the first location -- incorrect, but typical of a 4-year-old child in the real world.

Like real children, Eddie can learn from his mistakes and, if the test is run again, will give the correct answer.
Not Your Everyday Avatar

Second Life is a virtual world launched in 2003 in which its users, called "residents," can interact with each other through virtual representations of themselves, called "avatars."

That isn't what Eddie is about. "By definition, creatures like Eddie are not avatars, which are being directly controlled by real humans in the real world," Selmer Bringsjord, head of the department of cognitive science at Rensselaer and the leader of the project, told TechNewsWorld.

"The idea is, you might have a doppelganger, a counterpart in the virtual world, but that's only because the synthetic character in the virtual world has your memories, your background and your capacities."

Bringsjord's project wants to create virtual people who reason, have beliefs and emotions, and even have religion. Ultimately it will re-create the Starship Enterprise's holodeck, where humans will be able to interact with holographic representations of other people.

The virtual characters will be powered by theorems because "this approach to artificial intelligence Latest News about artificial intelligence is based on mathematical logic so everything the character thinks, believes, says is a theorem," Bringsjord said.
Powering the Math

Those theorems that replicate the "very rich set of beliefs and knowledge" that create the behavioral repertoire of humans are so complex and difficult that supercomputing power is necessary.

Two of Rensselaer's state-of-the-art research facilities -- the Computational Center for Nanotechnology Innovations (CCNI) and the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) -- will be used to power the project.

CCNI, the most powerful university-based supercomputing system in the world, consists of massively parallel IBM (NYSE: IBM) Latest News about IBM supercomputers in the Blue Gene family; IBM Power-based Linux clusters; and AMD (NYSE: AMD) Latest News about AMD Opteron processor-based clusters. These provide more than 100 teraflops of computing power.

EMPAC, opening in October 2008, will feature powerful visualization, audification, immersive environments, sensor applications, communication Improve customer service and productivity with Avaya Unified Communications. technology and physical modeling capabilities.
Strong AI or Weak AI?

Whether or not you need all that computing power is open to debate.

Rensselaer is adopting what is known as the "Strong AI" approach, where you need gobs of computing power because you want to duplicate what the brain does.

However, advocates of the "Weak AI" approach hold that it is more important to reproduce the results of the brain's operation -- human behavior -- and this requires far less computing power.

Ai Research, with a research center near Tel Aviv, takes this approach. It is building a child machine, a computer program designed to converse with humans in natural language and learn from its spoken interactions with human caretakers the same way and at the same rate a human infant would. This will grow from infancy to adulthood and pass the Turing Test -- where a machine can't be distinguished from a human in conversation -- in 10 years.

"My choice to pursue Weak AI was motivated by my belief in the contingency of the hardware, the essentiality of the logic making up the mind, and by my personal training -- computer science, linguistics and the philosophy of language," Yaki "Jack" Dunietz, Ai's president and project leader, told TechNewsWorld.
It's Just a Kid

"I'm always suspicious of this kind of thing where they're dealing with children," anthropologist and sociologist Paul Jorion told TechNewsWorld. "I always have the feeling that there are some major issues they haven't been able to solve yet."

Jorion developed ANELLA, the Associative Network with Emerging Logical and Learning Abilities, whose intelligence was guided by the dynamics of affect, or feeling, back in 1989 for the artificial intelligence unit of British Telecom.

Most of the approaches toward AI "have taken an over-sophisticated view of the problem," Jorion said. His, on the other hand, was "very simple -- I've got a universe of words, and you just find a way to connect them that makes sense."
Saving the Country

Virtual synthetic characters with the thoughts, feelings and beliefs of real humans can also contribute to homeland security Free Trial. Security Software As A Service From Webroot., Bringsjord said.

One area is training, where running simulations where the troops interact with synthetic characters that are "very robust and have these actual religious and other mindsets" common to people from other societies will prove useful, he explained.

Hand-to-hand combat is another area of training.

Yet another possibility is detective work, where you could "create scenarios in the past that are very detailed and run in real time," Dr. Bringsjord said.

Finally, there are "less appetizing" possibilities such as providing synthetic characters with control over weapons, but then "you have to make sure the synthetic characters have a strong code of ethics," Bringsjord said.

The project is ambitious, and "I'm not claiming that these synthetic characters now, or in the future, will be genuinely conscious or self-conscious," Bringsjord added.

Get free software every day from Giveaway of the Day

2008-03-13T20:02:00.002+05:30

Who says there's no such thing as a free lunch? Giveaway of the Day gives you a different commercial software application, free of charge, every day. Yes, there's a catch, but it's a simple one: each program is made available for only 24 hours, and you have to install it the day you download it.

Let me clarify that: The software doesn't expire after 24 hours. Rather, you have a one-day window in which to download it and install it. But once that's done, it's yours to keep forever (or at least until you reformat your hard drive).

Don't expect to find Quicken or Microsoft Office here; the selection consists mostly of utilities, security tools, DVD rippers, and the like. Some of it's junk, but there are some gems--and you definitely can't beat the price. If you want to know whether the day's program is worth the download, click the "Proceed to download page" link and check readers' ratings and comments, which are usually copious.

While you're at it, head to Game Giveaway of the Day: same deal, all games.

Can Microsoft make users 'love' its software?

2008-03-13T19:58:00.001+05:30

End-user adoption is often cited as a key stumbling block in ERP (enterprise resource planning) and CRM implementations. But Microsoft is asserting that improvements in its Dynamics line of software will have users swooning with passion, not seething with frustration.

"About two years ago, I started making the claim within Dynamics not to just be the best in the industry, but really make something people love," said Jakob Nielsen, principal user experience manager for Dynamics, at the company's Convergence conference in Orlando, Florida, on Wednesday.

The problem, as Nielsen noted, is that "when it comes to emotional connections with business software, it's not so positive most of the time. 'Hate' is probably the word used more often."

While users traditionally want their software to be usable and useful, Microsoft's research also considered a third factor: The seemingly elusive "desirability."

The Dynamics user experience team worked with students at the IT University of Copenhagen on "desirability studies" and to formulate a methodology it is calling "Feel IT."

Microsoft has been using visual design research techniques on groups of users, according to Nielsen. "We really needed some method where we could get people ... to express their emotions when they used the product," he said.

The process allows individuals to express their reactions after using Dynamics by choosing from an array of photographs: A man holding his head and screaming, teddy bears, a woman yawning. Microsoft believes much insight can be inferred from users' choices.

"Emotions are different for different people," Nielsen said. "That's really what drives us and interests us."

To that end, Microsoft has created more than 30 "role centers" for Dynamics AX 2009, due out later this year. These are views of the application tailored for a wide variety of user types.

Microsoft's desirability research echoes work by figures like Don Norman, creator of the "emotional design" concept.

One beta user of AX 2009 said there is substance behind Microsoft's hype.

"We think they really got it right on this one. Things really came together, and we've got a lot of happy people," said John Elmer, vice president of information systems at Rodgers and Hammerstein.

The multiple-division company has complex business processes, as it represents an array of artists and productions, according to Elmer.

The role centers and tooling in the software make it easier for users to find relevant information and also shifts the load off IT, he added.

"We don't get requests for SQL queries to be pulled back for custom sets of data. People can do their own data mining. It's much faster, it's much more efficient," he said.

However, despite the wide range of role templates Microsoft has developed, customizations are still a reality, according to Elmer.

"People want more. We're early enough on that we're able to work with the out-of-the-box templates, but I fully expect within six weeks we'll be slammed with requests for [modifications]," he said. "Some of the stuff we've built on the front end is very specific to our installation. The out-of-the-box templates didn't include some of those tables and fields, so we added them."

New supercomputer is a rack of PlayStations

2008-02-29T07:33:00.001+05:30

When the PlayStation3 was released in November 2006, Gaurav Khanna's wife braved long queues so he could be one of the first people in the US to get his hands on the gaming console.

But the astrophysicist was not itching to burn some rubber in Gran Turismo or shoot hoops in NBA 07. Instead he wanted to build his own supercomputer.

Mr Khanna now owns 16 PS3s, which spend their days simulating the activities of very large black holes in the universe for the physics department at the University of Massachusetts.

Hooked together in a single cluster, the PS3 consoles provide his department with the same amount of computing power as a 400-node supercomputer.

"The challenge these days with supercomputing facilities is that there is a lot of demand for them. So even if I submitted a job that would be expected to take about an hour, it could actually take two days to get started because the queues are so long.

"The PS3 cluster is all mine and was very low cost to set up, which makes it really attractive," he says.

What makes the gaming console vastly superior to high-end computers for complex research algorithms, Mr Khanna says, is the Cell chip built by IBM to facilitate high-end gaming functions on the latest generation of consoles.

In addition the PS3 was built with an open hardware architecture, which can run the Linux operating system.

Based on Einstein's theory of relativity, Mr Khanna's research on black holes is purely theoretical. In order to run his simulation data on the console he has to reprogram it so the algorithms will work on the new architecture.

"Linux can turn any system into a general purpose computer but for it to do work for me I have to run my own code on it for astrophysics applications. The hard part of the job was to make sure my own calculations could run fast on the platform, which meant I had to optimise the written code so it could utilise the new features of the system.

"I am not a Linux person - I am a Mac person - but I was able to follow instructions online," he says.

His next challenge will be to turn his data into graphical simulations using the high end graphics engine included in the PS3.

"We haven't done that yet but it would be very neat to actually see the simulation while it is going on," he says.

Although Mr Khanna was one of the first scientists to optimise the PS3 for his own research work, Tod Martinez, Professor of Chemistry at the University of Illinois has been tinkering with games consoles ever since his son's original PlayStation malfunctioned.

He says that while researching whether or not to buy a new PS2 for his son he also began to explore the possibilities of using gaming consoles for scientific research.

"The two main things we do are rotations and translations of objects. We also need to get a lot of pixels onto the screen, which means we need big channels to move lots of data. It was pretty clear that modern games consoles mapped really well onto theoretical chemical calculations," he says.

Once the PS2 was released he bought one unit for his son and a few units for himself and made some rudimentary attempts to program it. "But back then the architecture was proprietary and trying to convince the machine to run non-Sony programmed games was difficult."

That situation improved rapidly when Sony released a DVD that would allow users to run Linux on the console. "Only 1000 DVDs were released but they really opened up the architecture considerably," he says.

Since that time Mr Martinez has refined his computing resources considerably and he now runs a cluster of eight cut-down consoles from IBM based on the same Cell chip technology used in the PS3.

He has also expanded his use of gaming technology into graphics cards with the help of a new programming framework developed by graphics hardware specialist Nvidia.

Mr Martinez's field of research is examining how molecules behave when you shine light on them - which has wide ramifications for the fields of agriculture, solar energy and the study of human vision.

"We have done tests of algorithms and Nvidia cards are four to five times faster than the Cell chip, which is 20 times faster than an ordinary high end computer," he says.

Because both technologies can be classified as "stream processers" they are highly suited to moving massive volumes of data - unlike the general purpose processing for ordinary computing.

"Some people think it's just about having a faster computer. They don't realise how big a change it is to do computing at your desk after accessing a computer in a room somewhere where you have to wait around for results.

"Of course it does cost less, but what needs to be recognised is that it also changes the way people think about problems when they are given a hundred times more computer power."

Using the example of a black box, Mr Martinez explains that instead of asking basic questions about how it works, you can just start tinkering around with it.

"So rather than taking the thing apart you just start moving all the knobs about to see what happens when you change something - just as you might in real life."

Adobe Stakes New Claim To Rich Web Apps With Release Of Air

2008-02-28T11:50:00.002+05:30

Adobe took another shot in the emerging competition for rich Internet applications on Monday by releasing the first version of Adobe Integrated Runtime or Air and the third iteration of the Flex development framework, which is used to create Flash and Air applications.

Rich Internet apps, or RIAs, could be loosely defined as software with engaging user interfaces that typically bridge the connectivity of the Web with a graphical richness and custom user interface that used to be reserved for client software.

"With Air, we're making that leap between the Web and the desktop," Kevin Lynch, Adobe's chief technology officer, told InformationWeek. "This is about enabling Web apps to work the way people expect them to work."

Air, a cross-operating system platform that was code-named Apollo, attempts to bridge the gap between the Web and the desktop by allowing developers to create Internet-connected applications that aren't restricted by the form and functionality of Web browsers.

For example, eBay has created an application called eBay Desktop that runs on Air. Designed for heavy eBay users, eBay Desktop is a small, downloadable application launched just like a typical app today, with the click of an icon.

Since it doesn't run in a browser, it doesn't have to rely on the back and forward buttons of the browser for navigation and has a much more customized, user friendly graphical interface than the eBay Web site. It also goes beyond the browser version's capability because it keeps recent auction items in cache and doesn't require a browser refresh to notify users they have been outbid.

Adobe and its partners announced a number of other Air applications on Monday as well, including a New York Times application for reading news, a puzzle application from Nickelodeon, and AOL's Top 100 Music Videos. There are business apps here too, including stock market analysis with Nasdaq Instant Market Replay and business intelligence dashboards with Business Objects' BI Desktop.

Adobe's also using Air itself as a platform for its forthcoming Adobe Media Player, which will compete with Microsoft's Windows Media Player, and BuzzWord, a Web-based word processor Adobe bought last year. Air also powers Adobe's fastest adopted internal application, a graphically rich corporate directory.

Air is about an 11 MB download for the Windows version; there's also a Mac version and one for Linux is due out later this year. Air applications are typically very small downloads in the range of a few hundred KBs. Adobe hopes to distribute it on its Web site, with Adobe Acrobat Reader and wherever Air applications are downloaded. That same distribution method eventually got Flash installed on almost every Internet-connected computer.

Meanwhile, Adobe's also announcing Flex 3.0 as a free, open-source development framework and a technology called BlazeDS that gives developers a stronger way to link Adobe-based applications with databases.

Though the genre of rich Internet applications arguably emerged over the past several years as Adobe's Flash browser plug-in -- often used for animated and interactive features on Web sites -- became ubiquitous, the past year has seen a number of new products from Adobe, Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, Mozilla, and Japanese-owned Curl.

The competitive battle is likely to come down to Microsoft and Adobe, with the others playing bit or niche roles. Curl, for example, is aiming mostly for corporate use with its RIA technology.

Microsoft's banking much of its rich Internet app future on a browser plug-in named Silverlight that today competes with Flash. In the first iteration, which was released last year, it's little more than a media player. However, Silverlight 2.0, a test version of which could be released as soon as Microsoft's Mix conference in early March, brings a slimmed-down version of its popular .Net development framework to the Web and the Web to millions of .Net developers. Silverlight 2.0 is expected out later this year.

Adobe's Lynch questioned Silverlight's ability to become as ubiquitous as Flash has. He also claimed that Microsoft's strategy with Silverlight is largely backwards-looking. "While Microsoft is shooting at where we've been with Flash Player, we're also shooting where things are going," he said. "Microsoft doesn't have a cross-operating system runtime that runs on the desktop."

Nevertheless, Adobe's "staying very paranoid" about Flash development itself, Lynch said. Flash Player added HD video support last year after the announcement that Silverlight would do the same, and Adobe's fast at work on Flash Player 10, which Lynch said would add some new text and imaging improvements.

Brad Becker, group product manager Microsoft's developer division, questioned in an e-mail whether Adobe has the same commitment to the depth and breadth of coverage that Microsoft does. "We are building a true development platform, not just a player or a browser," he wrote. In addition to Silverlight, Becker said Microsoft's RIA strategy included desktop capabilities of the Windows' graphical subsystem called Windows Presentation Foundation, the Xbox 360 gaming system, and Media Center living room PC as well as mobile devices.

Becker also implied that Air represents a security risk since it lets "Web applications loose outside the browser security sandbox." Adobe has previously vouched for Air's security; new applications can't be installed without user approval, for example.

It's still largely the Wild West for Rich Internet apps. Adobe Air and Microsoft's Silverlight, to say nothing of Sun's JavaFX or Mozilla's Prism, have a long road ahead if any expect to become hallmarks of the software world. But with their ability to blend the best of Web and on-premise computing, it's quite possible they will.

Microsoft to launch beta of Internet Explorer 8

2008-02-28T11:48:00.001+05:30

Microsoft will shortly make available the test version of Internet Explorer 8, which is set for final release in the first half of this year.

The Web site ActiveWin on Monday published the contents of a beta invitation, which said Microsoft is nearing a launch date for Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1, which will be available for download and testing.

According to the Internet Explorer blog, the next version of Microsoft's Web browser is set for release in the first half of the year.

Microsoft executives are expected to reveal further details about the browser's features at the software maker's upcoming Mix conference in Las Vegas next week.

Last year at Mix, Microsoft outlined some of the features planned for IE 8, including standards compliance and tools to ease Web development.

Google owes business to Microsoft

2008-02-28T11:47:00.001+05:30

Microsoft's Chief Research and Strategy Officer Craig Mundie said Tuesday that competitor Google owes its business in part to Microsoft and that his company is not concerned about losing its position as an innovator in the technology market to the search and advertising leader.

"If we didn't succeed at the PC, they wouldn't have a business," Mundie said of Google, in comments made via Webcast at the Goldman Sachs Technology Investment Symposium in Las Vegas on Tuesday.

He said Google was able to grow so quickly because it introduced a new business model for the Web at just the right time. "It wasn't that many years ago that Google didn't exist," Mundie said. But now that the industry and competitors like Microsoft are catching up to Google's online advertising strategy, "I don't think they can do anything we can't do," he said.

In fact, Microsoft's longevity versus its relatively new competitor gives it a substantial advantage long term over Google, Mundie said. "I'd like to think we're strategically open-minded, we've made adjustments [to our business model]," Mundie said. "I'd like to see Google and someone else come up with something that really threatens our business model."

Part of that business model is to combine forces with Yahoo to compete with Google in the advertising market. Microsoft is currently in the middle of what could end up becoming a hostile takeover of Yahoo, after the company rejected the software giant's $44.6 billion cash and stock offer. Microsoft is now rumored to be mounting a proxy fight for Yahoo.

While Mundie acknowledged that he couldn't discuss much about the ongoing Yahoo proceedings publicly, he did concede that Microsoft is eager to acquire the company and move ahead on the Web. "Right now, we'd just like to close the Yahoo deal," he said.

Even if the deal does not go through, however, he said Microsoft is confident its own Web strategy, fueled by a combination of software and services rather than an entirely Web-based portfolio, will eventually help the company catch up to Google -- barring a "major screw-up" on Microsoft's part.

Moreover, Microsoft has a multiyear lead on Google in providing software in mobile phones, another area where the Internet company aims to compete. "They're sort of late to the cell-phone thing," Mundie said, noting Microsoft's success with its Windows Mobile OS, which powers millions of smart phones worldwide.

Yahoo set to open its search engine to third parties

2008-02-28T11:45:00.001+05:30

Yahoo Inc. is planning to open its Yahoo Search engine to allow third parties to add a wide variety of data to search results.

Code-named "Search Monkey," the new open-source application programming interfaces (API) that Yahoo is slated to detail today will allow Web site owners to add information such as ratings and reviews, images, deep links and other data directly to the Yahoo Search results Web page.

"Our intent is clear -- present users with richer, more useful search results so that they can complete their tasks more efficiently and get from 'to-do' to 'done,'" noted Vish Makhijani, senior vice president and general manager of Yahoo Search. "So instead of a simple title, abstract and URL, for the first time, users will see rich results that incorporate the massive amount of data buried in Web sites."

Web site owners can supply Yahoo with data, and the company's Machined Learned Ranking technology will ensure that the results are presented to users at the correct time, he added.

"We believe that combining a free, open platform with structured, semantic content from across the Web is a clear win for all parties involved -- site owners, Yahoo and, most importantly, our users," Makhijani said. "And by the way, users will be in complete control of the experience and will be able to turn off anything related to open search if they so desire."

In an example provided by Yahoo, a search result for a Japanese restaurant in California that previously would have included the URL, an abstract and an address would provide ratings, price information and links for reviews and photos with the new tools. Yahoo plans to provide additional details on how the open search tool will work over the next few months.

Not to be outdone, Google Inc. posted a reminder Monday that its similar effort, called Subscribed Links, allows users to create custom search results that users can add to their own Google search pages. Matt Cutts, a Google software engineer and head of Google's Webspam team, noted that Subscribed Links, which Google debuted in 2006, allows users to "display links to your services, answer questions, and calculate useful quantities and more."

Storm worm 'making millions a day'

2008-02-28T11:44:00.001+05:30

The people behind the Storm worm are making millions of pounds a day by using it to generate revenue, according to IBM’s principal web security strategist.

Joshua Corman, of IBM Internet Security Systems, said that in the past it had been assumed that web security attacks were essential ego driven. But now attackers fell in three camps.

‘I call them my three Ps, profit, politics and prestige,’ he said during a debate at a NetEvents forum in Barcelona.

The Storm worm, which had been around about a year, had been a tremendous financial success because it created a botnet of compromised machines that could be used to launch profitable spam attacks.

Not only do the criminals get money simply for sending out the spam in much more quantity than could be sent by a single machine but they get a cut of any business done off the spam.

The weak point in this case was the end user who visits a compromised site or who falls for a trick of social engineering.

Maybe Microsoft Should Stalk Different Prey

2008-02-26T07:37:00.001+05:30

OVER the years, Microsoft has pummeled countless rivals, including the superheavyweight I.B.M. But it has never faced a smaller foe as formidable as Google. The tale of the tape gives Microsoft a $100 billion advantage in market capitalization, but it counts for little: Google appears to be its superior in strength, speed, smarts.

Having exhausted its best ideas on how to deal with Google, Microsoft is now working its way down the list to dubious ones — like pursuing a hostile bid for Yahoo. Michael A. Cusumano, who has written several books about the software industry and about Microsoft, is not impressed with Microsoft’s rationale for its Yahoo offer. He said the bid seemed to be a pursuit of “an old-style Internet asset, in decline, and at a premium.”

Determined to match Google in search and online advertising, Microsoft has managed to overlook a plain-vanilla strategy, the oldest one in the book: build on its own strengths. What it does best is to sell software to corporations, for all sorts of applications, visible and not so visible, at a handsome profit.

If Microsoft thinks this is the right time to try a major acquisition on a scale it has never tried before, it should not pursue Yahoo. Rather, it should acquire another major player in business software, merging Microsoft’s strength with that of another. This is more likely to produce a happier outcome than yoking two ailing businesses, Yahoo’s and its own online offerings, and hoping for a miracle.

For an illustration of how Microsoft could select targets more judiciously, Mr. Cusumano, who is a professor at the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, pointed to the Oracle Corporation’s strategic acquisitions and its prudent use of capital to “roll up firms with similar products and customers to its own.” With impressive regularity — 13 strategic acquisitions in 2005, another 13 in 2006 and 11 in 2007 — Oracle has picked up key products and customers while avoiding an “oops” slip, venturing too far away from its core business, or paying too much. At no point along the way has it acted in a fit of desperation.

Last month, Oracle pulled in another major prize, BEA Systems, a leading software company, for about $8.5 billion. You’ve probably never heard of BEA: it’s doubly obscure, producing the behind-the-scenes infrastructure that large companies use to build behind-the-scenes software systems for their entire business, or “enterprise software.” Both Oracle and BEA are based in Silicon Valley, but their side of the street is not lit by klieg lights and does not get the same attention as the Googles and Yahoos.

And, to be honest, it’s not much fun hanging out on the enterprise side of the software business. BEA says its software helps organizations “ensure that business processes are optimally defined, managed, executed and monitored.” Unless you’re playing Business Jargon Bingo, it’s hard to sit still and remain attentive. You have to admire Oracle’s ability to remain focused on the business that serves business and to not be distracted by the buzz of the Web crowd gathered across the street.

Microsoft does business software well. Approximately half its revenue comes from business customers for its e-mail infrastructure, database systems, developer tools, Office productivity applications and other mainstays. It has also assembled, through acquisitions, a fledgling line of enterprise software that it calls Microsoft Dynamics. Microsoft would like Dynamics to be viewed as competing head to head with the No. 2 name in enterprise software, Oracle, or the No. 1, SAP of Germany. For the moment, however, Microsoft Dynamics’ parity with those big names is nothing more than wishful aspiration.

Professor Cusumano has a suggestion: Rather than acquire Yahoo, Microsoft should pursue SAP.

It’s not an outlandish idea. The two companies held merger talks in late 2003, and perhaps since then, too. Microsoft is in an enviable position: it is a nearly universal presence in corporate data centers, and large enterprise customers are arguably the best customers a software company can have. Clients pay very dear prices for the complex, semicustomized software that runs their business. And once they’ve got their systems running — a process that can take years to complete — they aren’t inclined to change vendors lightly.

A few dozen well-paying Fortune 500 customers may actually be more valuable than tens of millions of Web e-mail “customers” who pay nothing for the service and whose attention is not highly valued by online advertisers.

Today, SAP’s market capitalization is about $59 billion, and a sizable premium to get a deal done would send its price well north of that. Microsoft cannot put both SAP and Yahoo in its shopping cart, deals that together might run well over $120 billion. Microsoft must pick one or the other.

Suppose that Lawrence J. Ellison, the chief executive of Oracle, were the head of Microsoft and was doing the shopping. Which deal would he choose? Past experience suggests that it would not be Yahoo. That acquisition would bring little but duplication headaches — and no large enterprise customers.

It’s amusing to note that the most Larry-like choice, Microsoft’s acquiring of SAP and leaving it alone as an autonomous division to avoid a cross-cultural integration fiasco, is the course that would be most discomfiting to Oracle. Frank Scavo, president of Computer Economics, an information technology research firm, in Irvine, Calif., said that “a Microsoft-SAP combination would be Oracle’s worst nightmare.”

Google would not be happy with a conjoined Microsoft and SAP, either. It has made a pro forma expression of its own opposition to a Microsoft-Yahoo merger, but we can speculate that it may be cheering that deal on. Working in Google’s favor are the hostile nature of Microsoft’s bid, the colossal potential for integration problems, and organizational paralysis in, and exodus of talent from, Yahoo.

But were Microsoft to turn and head in SAP’s direction, Google would have reason for concern. Whatever strengthens Microsoft is bound to influence, later if not sooner, its continuing competition with Google. For its own part, Google is keen to expand its foothold inside large companies. Last year, it acquired Postini, whose software filters corporate e-mail. Google has not done so well with corporate customers on its own, however. Google Apps has conspicuously failed to win adoption quickly.

If Microsoft is to rededicate its attention to its most valuable assets, business customers, a prerequisite is dropping its ill-advised bid for Yahoo. And to find the best acquisition strategy, ask, “What would Larry do?”

If Microsoft tries to fight Google with wobbly legs, scared witless, it will lose.

Emotiv's headset gives users mind-control over digital objects

2008-02-26T07:32:00.003+05:30

Emotiv's headset allows users some control over objects on a computer. It is possible to move things around, with limited application, with your mind.

I've just made a small orange cube disappear with my mind. No hands necessary.

I'm testing out the San Francisco company's so-called brain control interface, the latest iteration of technology it first showed off a year ago, but which, unlike last year, is now almost ready for prime time.

The idea is a blending of hardware and software: A headset that seems a little like the one from the James Cameron-written 1995 film, Strange Days, complete with a set of sensors that are built to read your brain waves.

The software then is designed to interpret those brain waves in such a way as to allow users to manipulate objects onscreen with nothing but their mind.

So that's why I've come to this office in downtown San Francisco, where I'm face-to-face with this little orange cube. It's kind of mocking me, daring me to make it disappear.

The headset is designed to fit snugly on a user's head. The data it produces can, in theory, be plugged into a wide variety of software.

Here's how it works: The software has several choices for actions you can take. So, taking the disappearing cube as an example, once you're hooked up to the headset, you're directed to run a short, six-second test, where you concentrate on doing something, anything, with your mind--relax, focus, whatever.

Then, once you've completed the test, it's you against the cube. And the challenge is to see if you can reproduce what it was you were doing with your mind during the test; If so, the cube slowly disappears.

In my case, it disappeared, then came back, then disappeared again and then came back. Repeat.

They also ran me through another example, this time trying to pull the cube forward. This one was harder because the brain function I chose to do to synchronize with the challenge was more concentrated. It involved me sort of tensing up my head and imagining the act of pulling the cube forward. It didn't work very well.

But with the disappearing act, I simply relaxed my mind, with much better results.

Of course, there's no relationship at all between brain activity that is consciously trying to "pull" the cube forward and what happens. That is to say, it doesn't matter in any way what you're doing with your mind, so long as what you do during the six-second calibration matches what you do when you try to enact the action.

So really, the software is just looking for a pattern match. It's not all that complicated a concept, though I'm sure it's a pretty difficult engineering feat.

Emotiv has also built technology designed to read your facial expressions and emotions. So while there, I saw a demonstration where someone wearing the headset would smile, frown, smile again, and so forth. And a goofy-looking face on the monitor would repeat the expression.

For now, this is all still just in prototype phase. But Emotiv promised me that the headset would be available in time for Christmas this year, at a price of $299. It'll come bundled with a game that is geared toward using the technology, and presumably, more games will follow. The success, I think, of this product, will be how easy it is for developers to build the technology into their games. And that, presumably, is why the product is being showcased during this week's Game Developers Conference, here in San Francisco.

Java increasingly threatened by new app dev frameworks

2008-02-24T07:46:00.002+05:30

Is Java slipping into second-tier status in the application development space? All the attention being given to its rivals these days might give off that impression.

Nearly 13 years old, the Java language and platform created at Sun Microsystems now shares the software development limelight with scripting languages such as PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) and Ruby, as well as with Microsoft's .Net technologies.

Much touted for its ability to run on multiple platforms via the JVM (Java Virtual Machine), Java grabbed headlines for years before being seriously challenged by .Net and open source scripting variants. Today, these alternatives to Java have gained plenty of adherents. Open source CRM vendor SugarCRM, for example, chose to write its application in PHP instead of Java. "When we set out, we thought we were going to build a Java application on top of Oracle," said Clint Oram, SugarCRM co-founder. The company, however, saw PHP maturing and found it "just more accessible than Java, for the average person," Oram said.

Microsoft, meanwhile, has made its .Net platform a serious player in the enterprise space. A November 2007 report by Info-Tech Research Group stated the case for .Net becoming more popular than the Java platform in enterprises.

But don’t count Java out just yet.

"Everywhere you turn, Java touches something. It's used in databases, it's used to drive the Web [systems] of big companies like eBay," said Rick Ross, president of the DZone developer community and founder of Javalobby, a Web community for Java developers. He also is a Java developer.

The Java industry remains very, very large, Ross said. "All of it put together is literally billions and billions of dollars," said Ross, noting the use of Java by everyone from IBM to Oracle and its latest major acquisition, BEA Systems.

Microsoft .Net is attracting a lot of smaller developers
The Tiobe Programming Community Index, which ranks the popularity of programming languages, has Java at No. 1 for February, the same place it held a year ago. Following it are C, Visual Basic, PHP, C++, Perl, Python, and C#. Further down the list are Delphi, JavaScript, and Ruby. (Tiobe ratings are based on the worldwide availability of skilled engineers, courses, and vendors, with popular search engines used to calculate the ratings.)

Info-Tech, however, found Microsoft has a strength in its ability to offer a single soup-to-nuts stack featuring .Net, the Exchange e-mail system, and SQL Server database. "[Companies] want one throat to choke," said George Goodall, an Info-Tech senior research analyst and author of the firm's November report.

"We're not particularly bullish on .Net technology over Java technology, but the difference here is that .Net for most applications is good enough," he said.

Info-Tech sampled 1,900 companies, most of which are midmarket companies with less than $1 billion in annual revenues. The study found that 12 percent of enterprises focus exclusively on .Net as compared to 3 percent focused just on Java. Also, 49 percent center primarily on .Net, compared to 20 percent for Java.

Despite the survey's midmarket focus, Goodall noted that even respondent companies with annual revenues exceeding $1 billion had a similar .Net preference as the midmarket respondents. Still, the survey did find that the popularity of .Net decreases very gradually as the size of enterprises increases. But Goodall cautioned that in such companies, .Net's popularity decline did not come from an increase in Java usage, but instead from a preference for other development platforms in heterogeneous environments.

Even faced with increased competition from the likes of .Net, Java is nowhere near the end of its life, Info-Tech's report concluded. The platform has incredibly strong allies and an immense code base. Just as user sites must tend to legacy Cobol code, so will they have to tend to a lot of Java code in the future. "[Java is] not going to disappear," Goodall said.

Rails framework founder David Heinemeier Hansson also likened Java to Cobol. "I think Java is still relevant in the sense that languages never die. There will be systems running in Java 20 years from now," he said, "just like there are still lots of Cobol systems around from way back when."

New frameworks are gaining traction among developers
"Ruby, PHP, Python, and similar platforms have definitely taken a big chunk out of the Java brain trust," said Hansson. "We have a large constituency of Rails users who are Java refugees."

New frameworks such as PHP and Ruby on Rails indeed "have taken a huge bite out of the territory that used to belong to Java and .Net," said Tim Bray, Sun's director of Web technologies -- emphasizing that .Net has the same issue. "I totally don't believe, based on what I see, that .Net still has the kind of growth that it had for a few years there starting in the late 1990s.The evidence seems to show that while Java isn't the hottest growth spot, it's still the largest single ecosystem out there," he added.

Hansson agrees that .Net is also threatened by new frameworks, but he noted that .Net nevertheless seems to be taking away mindshare from Java in shops predisposed to use Microsoft technology.

A program manager at a government agency, who wished to remain anonymous, said solutions such as Adobe Flex and Microsoft products are offering alternatives to Java. "On the server side, Java will always have a place in stitching things together and customizing, but to turn out nice applications quickly that are maintainable, I see the other tools starting to take over that space," the program manager said.

Sun looks ahead to a world where Java may not be king
At Sun, CEO Jonathan Schwartz remains a staunch Java advocate but acknowledges Java is not the only contestant in the show these days. At the SugarCon 2008 conference for SugarCRM users earlier this month, Schwartz noted Sun's Da Vinci Machine project to extend the JVM to accommodate other languages. "The intent is to say, 'Look, Java is one language, but it is not a hammer for all nails. It happens to be a really, really good hammer,'" Schwartz said.

Bray admits that the Java language "is starting to look a little boring to the young rabble-rousers in the community," and says the Java language is "replaceable." However, Bray argues that the Java platform -- the JVM, APIs, and libraries -- is here to stay. The JVM is "insanely popular," and the consensus is the libraries are about the best, he said.

In anticipation of a less Java-centric world, Sun is working to embrace the new technologies. Case in point is the JRuby effort to enable Ruby to run Rails applications on the Java platform, Bray said. Meanwhile, work is being done to spruce up the Java language with closures and other capabilities, he said. (Closures lets pieces of code be passed around and used elsewhere without the need to declare a subroutine.)

Rails founder Hansson agrees with Sun's direction. "I do think the mentality of 'Java is the answer, what was the question again?' is gone. Even Sun realizes that now, which I think is healthy. There are lots of domains where Java is just too heavy and cumbersome an environment to dance with."

Microsoft Releases List of Programs that Won't Work with Vista SP1

2008-02-24T07:45:00.004+05:30

Microsoft Corp. today released a list of known programs that experience some sort of "loss of functionality" with Windows Vista SP1.

The list of 12 products -- divided into categories of "blocked from starting," "do not run" and "loss of functionality (minor or major)" -- is based on reported issues and is "not comprehensive," the company said. Many of the affected programs offer newer versions or upgrades that will make the software compatible (linked below where applicable).

As of press time, the products are:

Blocked from Starting

* BitDefender AV or Internet Security, version 10
* Fujitsu Shock Sensor 2.1.0.0
* Jiangmin KV Antivirus 10
* Jiangmin KV Antivirus 2008
* Trend Micro Internet Security 2008
* ZoneAlarm Security Suite 7.1

Do Not Run

* Iron Speed Designer 5.0.1
* Xheo Licensing 3.1
* FreeAllegiance 2.1

Loss of Functionality

* NYT Reader
* Rising Personal Firewall 2007
* Novell ZCM Agent 10.01

As Vista SP1 was released to manufacturing and IT professionals this month, the list may grow -- especially after the update goes live for consumers in March.

Microsoft Bumps Online Storage To 5GB

2008-02-24T07:45:00.003+05:30

Microsoft has increased storage on Windows Live Skydrive to 5GB, up by a multiple of five from its previous limit of 1GB (the 1GB having doubled the original 500mb in October).

Erick compared Skydrive to Gmail in an apples and oranges comparison last time; my Gmail account sits at 6.4gb today so Skydrive is still behind, having said that I’m not sure how many (average) people would use Gmail for online storage, so the comparison doesn’t make a lot of sense.

The more notable point is that Microsoft continues to grow its online storage offering when Google simply hasn’t launched the fabled Platypus online storage solution despite years of speculation and rumors. This is one space where Microsoft has the upper hand, and a 4gb storage jump will further increase the appeal of the product.

On top of the extra storage, Windows Live Skydrive has dropped the beta tag, and is now available in the following additional countries: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Finland, France, Guatemala, Honduras, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Portugal, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, and Turkey.

Google founder spooked by Microsoft bid

2008-02-24T07:44:00.002+05:30

Google Inc. co-founder Sergey Brin called Microsoft Corp.'s takeover bid for Yahoo Inc. an "unnerving" maneuver that threatens innovation on the Internet.

Brin reiterated the Internet search leader's position that a merger could violate antitrust laws and harm Internet users.

Brin made the comment after an event at the Mountain View-based company's headquarters for the Google Lunar X Prize, a race to land a privately funded robotic spacecraft on the moon.

"The Internet has evolved from open standards, having a diversity of companies," Brin told The Associated Press after the event. "And when you start to have companies that control the operating system, control the browsers, they really tie up the top Web sites, and can be used to manipulate stuff in various ways. I think that's unnerving."

Shortly after Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) unveiled its surprise $44.6 billion unsolicited offer for Yahoo (YHOO, Fortune 500) earlier this month, Google's chief legal officer David Drummond argued in a company blog posting that a merger between companies that control the Internet's two most heavily trafficked Web portals could lead to abuses. Those could be limiting users' ability to easily access competing products, from e-mail to instant messaging to Web-based services, such as those Google offers.

Microsoft has argued that it's committed to protecting innovation on the Internet and that scuttling the deal would allow Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) to become even more dominant on the Internet than it already is.

10 Emerging Technologies In 2008

2008-02-21T15:20:00.003+05:30

Modeling Surprise
Combining massive quantities of data, insights into human psychology, and machine learning can help humans manage surprising events, says Eric Horvitz.

Much of modern life depends on forecasts: where the next hurricane will make landfall, how the stock market will react to falling home prices, who will win the next primary. While existing computer models predict many things fairly accurately, surprises still crop up, and we probably can't eliminate them. Read More

Probabilistic Chips
Krishna Palem thinks introducing a little uncertainty into computer chips could extend battery life in mobile devices--and maybe the duration of Moore's Law, too.

NanoRadio
Alex Zettl's tiny radios, built from nanotubes, could improve everything from cell phones to medical diagnostics.

Wireless Power
Physicist Marin Soljacic is working toward a world of wireless electricity.
Atomic Magnetometers
John Kitching's tiny magnetic-field sensors will take MRI where it's never gone before.

Offline Web Applications
Offline Web Applications
Kevin Lynch believes that computing applications will become more powerful when they take advantage of both the browser and the desktop.

Graphene Transistors
A new form of carbon being pioneered by Walter de Heer could lead to speedy, compact computer processors.

Connectomics
Jeff Lichtman hopes to elucidate brain development and disease with new technologies that illuminate the tangled web of neural circuits.

Reality Mining
Sandy Pentland is using data gathered by cell phones to learn more about human behavior and social interactions.

Cellulolytic Enzymes
Frances Arnold is designing better enzymes for making biofuels from cellulose.

Software vendors Slammed

2008-02-21T15:19:00.002+05:30

Large software companies are exploiting catch-all licences to rob consumers and small businesses of their rights, the U.K.'s National Consumer Council (NCC) has said.

Research carried out by the NCC found that EULAs (end-user licensing agreements) were badly-worded, typically exonerating software companies from any legal responsibility for their products, and left buyers with "less protection than when they buy a cheap biro."

The NCC said it will now refer the 17 worst offenders—including Microsoft, Apple, Symantec, Kaspersky, and McAfee—to the U.K.'s Office of Fair Trading (OFT) for investigation. Given the way licences vary from country to country, the NCC also plans to lobby the EU to extend its Consumer Sales and Sales Guarantees Directives to cover software.

"Plugging the gaps in the EU consumer rights and protection framework is a vital move. Consumers can't have a clue what they're signing up to when some terms and conditions run to 10 or more pages. There's a significant imbalance between the rights of the consumer and the rights of the holder," said the NCC's Carl Belgrove.

The NCC recommends that software companies make EULAs available before purchase, take the proper responsibility for their products as do vendors in other industries, and stop hiding onerous terms and conditions behind legal jargon that nobody can understand.

Microsoft, for one, claims it has made efforts to cut out mindless legal jargon. Even so, its best efforts still only reduced its 100-page "product use rights" document to half that length.

Perhaps the most notorious use of a EULA was Sony's misleading use of the form to install DRM software that turned out to operate as a hidden rootkit. In fact, some argued at the time that had Sony worded its EULA more carefully, the subsequent legal action against it for its carelessness might have proved impossible.

The referral to the OFT by the NCC will be seen as a test case. Regardless of the outcome of this action, harmonization of licensing looks inevitable across Europe at some stage. The EULA won't die but it is certain to change.

2008-02-21T15:18:00.004+05:30

Efforts by countries such as China to restrict the exchange of information on the Internet are ultimately doomed to failure, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates told an audience of Stanford University students Tuesday.

"I don't see any risk in the world at large that someone will restrict free content flow on the Internet," he said. "You cannot control the Internet."

China has grappled with the issue of Internet censorship in recent years, and Microsoft, along with several other U.S. companies, has come under fire for aiding in this effort. In late 2005, Microsoft shut down the blog of journalist Zhao Jing, also known as Michael Anti, when he blogged about a newspaper strike in the country.

In the long run, however, free speech will win out, Gates said.

That's because of business requirements. Restrictions on free speech will curtail business activity, so commercial forces will work against censorship, Gates said. "If your country wants to have a developed economy... you basically have to open up the Internet," he said.

Gates made the comments following a talk on "Software, Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Giving Back," which focused mainly on his two favorite topics: the future of technology and the philanthropic goals he has set for himself following his retirement from day-to-day work at the company he founded in 1975.

Microsoft's founder will step down from his daily work at the company entirely in July, but he has set some big follow-up goals for himself, including the fight against HIV/AIDS and a campaign to eradicate polio and malaria.

Another ambition is to find new ways to drive innovation that will benefit the world's poorest countries.

This is a major problem, Gates said. Today, with millions still dying from malaria, 90 percent of the world's medical research relates to conditions that occur in the world's richest countries. "Consider how much money should be spent on baldness versus malaria," he said.

Fifty times the amount spent on researching malaria goes to finding a cure for baldness, he said.

"We have this disparity where, as great as our system is, if there's not a market need, it doesn't drive innovation."

Gates would like to see that change.

"One of the things I'll be spending time on is reaching out to both universities and companies and encouraging them to get more involved in this," he said.

The 52-year-old Gates seemed apprehensive about his upcoming career as a philanthropist. Stepping down from Microsoft "could be traumatic for me," he said. "I was 17 years old when I started working full-time on Microsoft, and I've done it basically every day of work since then. So who knows what it will be like to make the change?"

Confessions of a cobol programmer

2008-02-21T15:18:00.003+05:30

Last summer, Michael Vu, a 40-year-old independent IT consultant, found himself in a wholly unexpected place midway through his career.

He'd signed a three-week contract to help a major U.S. retailer with an enterprise reporting project. The initial work was so successful that the project was extended. As a consequence, Vu was suddenly deep in the world of Cobol.

Yes, Cobol, the programming dinosaur that was last hot in the '80s. Cobol, notorious for its overrich syntax and overlong code. That Cobol.

Although he'd never worked in Cobol before, Vu actually had wanted to learn for a while. In the midst of predictions of a massive retirement by baby boomers, Vu saw an opportunity. "I said to myself, even if only 0.1% of those baby boomers are Cobol developers, that would open up a huge market."

As Vu's work on the project proceeded, he realized that the retailer had 10 years of code living in Cobol. And the next phase of the project depended on that code.

So Vu, whose training and experience are in C and C++, jumped in and learned quickly. And he wound up with a skill that enhanced his strategic value to the organization. "I ended up moving from just being a regular coder with no idea of how the business runs to being someone they're relying on to extract business knowledge from their code base," he says. He now spends 30% of his time working in Cobol, and he expects that to stay the same or even increase.

For Vu, working in Cobol feels a bit like discovering a lost art. "The shocker for me was that Cobol is still heavily in use, even when my client is using the latest in enterprise Java, C+ and Visual Basic technologies," Vu says.
I know it's an old man's game, [but] I like the position of being the younger individual in the market."
Brian Vance, age 30,
Grange Insurance

What's going on here? To paraphrase Mark Twain, the reports of Cobol's death have been greatly exaggerated.

Some 75% of the world's businesses data is still processed in Cobol, and about 90% of all financial transactions are in Cobol, according to Arunn Ramadoss, head of the academic connections program at Micro Focus International PLC, which provides software to help modernize Cobol applications.

Because of the massive installed base, it would be too expensive to try to replace all that code, he says. Instead, many companies are looking for ways to integrate Cobol with newer applications.

The experienced Cobol programmers who can best do that job, however, are dying, or at least retiring. In a 2007 Micro Focus survey of its customers, more than 75% of CIOs said they would need more Cobol programmers over the next five years, and 73% were already having a hard time finding trained Cobol professionals.
Aging out the market

"Without a doubt, it is a challenge to find a developer in Cobol who is not nearing retirement age," says Dale Vecchio, research vice president of application development at Gartner Inc. In 2004, the last time Gartner tried to count Cobol programmers, the consultancy estimated that there were about 2 million of them worldwide and that the number was declining at 5% annually.

"Cobol will head downhill quickly over the next 10 years ... as baby boomers retire and there is insufficient recharging of the population," notes Vecchio.

As Vu's experience shows, that may mean career opportunities for IT professionals willing to learn and work in Cobol. (How long those opportunities last, however, is a subject of debate. See "Cobol: Going, but when?" for details.)

We surveyed Cobol programmers and companies involved in the Cobol field and determined that the market these days supports two types of careers:

* An emerging role in which the programmer serves as a bridge between Cobol code and new applications. Such jobs require people who understand Cobol, the business rules and processes on which old Cobol programs are based, and more modern languages such as Java.
* A more traditional programming path, in which the employee maintains and fixes old Cobol code in addition to writing new code, also still in Cobol.

The Cobol liaison role can be an interesting career path, says Ramadoss. "Cobol doesn't stop at Cobol," he points out. "You can integrate it into any modern technology."

With the emergence of service-oriented architectures, companies are able to more easily reuse their Cobol code, notes Nate Murphy, president of Nate Murphy International, an IT professional services firm.

The 66-year-old Murphy, who has decades of mainframe and Cobol experience, sees a resurgence in the value of Cobol because of the emergence of SOA and IBM's Language Environment, which provides a common runtime environment for combining many different languages, including Cobol.

"Now you can extend and add subroutines for other Web-based features that you need," he says. "All of a sudden you've got a valuable asset in these old Cobol programs, and you can extend them and expand their capability without writing new code."

The other career path is the more traditional programming job -- maintaining and fixing old code as well as writing new Cobol code. While some companies are now offshoring this type of Cobol work to places like India -- especially the maintenance of old code -- plenty of organizations want to keep a certain number of programmers in the U.S., especially if their jobs are key to keeping critical business systems up and running.

That's the position that Stacy Watts, a 28-year-old senior developer at Nationwide Insurance in Des Moines, is in. She's been writing Cobol code for about seven years, and last year the company offered her a chance to remotely oversee a team of programmers in India. Watts designs the program and then parcels out the coding work to the India-based programmers in addition to doing some of it herself.

Watts says she's not worried that her job might be outsourced. Even with the offshore programmers, "We still don't have enough people to get all the work done," Watts says. What's more, she views the opportunity to lead the India team as a step toward a management role.

Although Watts studied several programming languages at school, including Visual Basic, C and Java, she naturally gravitated to Cobol. "It was the mainframe that came easier to me," she says. "It made more sense to me."

Cobol programmers frequently cite job security as one of the attractions of their career choice. Brian Vance, a 30-year-old mainframe programmer at Grange Insurance in Columbus, Ohio, started at the company five years ago, maintaining and updating old Cobol code. Today, he's developing new Cobol code as the insurance provider branches out into several new states.
I'm hanging on with two hands to my keyboard, and they are trying to pry me away."
John Walczak, age 31, Sallie Mae

The youngest of about 20 Cobol programmers at the company, Vance foresees a stable and secure career. "I know it's an old man's game. I like the position of being the younger individual in the market," he says. "You're going to have people retiring and nobody to fill their shoes. So I think my job stability is about as good as it can get."

John Walczak, a 31-year-old Cobol programmer at Sallie Mae Inc. in Indianapolis, also says he's satisfied and secure in his work. When he graduated from Eastern Illinois University, Walczak wanted to work on Web-related projects. But Sallie Mae hired him to work on Cobol, promising that he'd be able to move around the company and do other things.

After a couple of years, he did indeed have an opportunity to move to a team that was developing a Web site. But to Walczak's surprise, he didn't like it. "I thought I'd be building Web pages and doing graphics. But that stuff is already prebuilt," he says. Instead, he was building code "behind the scenes -- doing a lot of Visual Basic and some .Net code." He decided to go back to Cobol programming.

Now the company is trying to persuade Walczak to move into more of a liaison role. After working at Sallie Mae for more than eight years, Walczak understands how its systems work. "So they want me to use that knowledge to help with project development and with project design," he says.

Problem is, Walczak's not so sure he wants to make the move. "I love programming. I love to code," he says. "I'm hanging on with two hands to my keyboard, and they are trying to pry me away. I don't want to go."
Cobol: Going, but when?

Most industry observers agree that a dose of Cobol training can help your career in the short term. But will Cobol be around long enough to get you to retirement age?

Companies involved in the Cobol market like to point to the statistics -- such as that 75% of the world's business data is still in Cobol -- to prove that Cobol, and therefore Cobol jobs, will be around for years to come.

Dale Vecchio, a Gartner analyst, isn't so sure.

"I'm seeing an increasing interest in organizations extricating themselves from IBM mainframes and Cobol," says Vecchio. "It's becoming increasingly accepted that they can get off the mainframe and move to Windows or Unix or Linux. I expect that to continue over the next five to seven years."

In addition, large companies are increasingly replacing custom mainframe applications such as human resources or supply chain management -- often written in Cobol -- with packaged software from companies like Oracle, he notes.
Employment opps abound

Nevertheless, Cobol programming is still a useful skill for IT professionals to have. "The world doesn't need 100,000 new Cobol programmers, but it does need several thousand new Cobol programmers," says Drake Coker, chief technology officer for Cobol at Micro Focus International.

"There is a lot of work out there for people who know how to take a new system with new technology and marry it to an existing system," he adds.

How to get Cobol into your toolbox is another matter. Fewer and fewer U.S. colleges and universities now offer Cobol training. In the past couple of years, both IBM and Micro Focus have launched initiatives to encourage universities to train more mainframe programmers. Through these programs, the companies provide schools with free technology and courseware.

Although these efforts might keep some Cobol courses going, Vecchio doesn't think they will do much to prevent the dramatic decline of Cobol. The efforts, he says, "are too little, too late."

Microsoft revealed on Wednesday details of the next version of its Windows OS for small businesses and formally introduced a new product line aimed at

2008-02-21T15:16:00.001+05:30

Microsoft revealed on Wednesday details of the next version of its Windows OS for small businesses and formally introduced a new product line aimed at SMBs.

Microsoft Windows SBS (Small Business Server) 2008, formally code-named "Cougar," is one of two software bundles in Microsoft's new Windows Essential Server Solutions line; it also includes Windows Essential Business Server 2008, formerly code-named "Centro" and aimed at mid-sized companies. Both products are based on the same code as Windows Server 2008, the next version of Microsoft's enterprise server OS.

The products in the Essential line bundle a server OS with other software products that Microsoft deems necessary to running a business -- such as Microsoft's messaging software, Exchange Server, and security products -- to provide what Microsoft describes as an all-in-one, easy-to-install software stack for companies that may only have a small IT support staff.

SBS 2008 is aimed at companies with up to 50 PCs and includes one-year trial subscriptions to Microsoft Forefront Security for Exchange Server Small Business Edition and Windows Live OneCare for Server.

The software also provides integration with Microsoft's Web-based service, Microsoft Office Live Small Business, to help companies set up and manage Web sites and Web-based collaboration workspaces for employees. Support for Windows Mobile devices, so employees can access business information and e-mail remotely, also is bundled in.

According to Microsoft, it designed SBS 2008 for simplified deployment, set-up, and administration from one management console that administrators can access remotely. The software also comes in a premium edition for companies that need more heavy lifting from their business software.

SBS 2008 will be demonstrated on hardware from Dell at Microsoft's Feb. 27 event in Los Angeles, in which Microsoft will highlight a triptych of releases -- Windows Server 2008, Visual Studio 2008, and SQL Server 2008. Both SBS 2008 and Windows Essential Business Server 2008 are scheduled to be available in the second half of 2008.

Windows Essential Business Server 2008, which Microsoft has previously discussed, also is intended to make it simpler for businesses with limited IT management resources to install and control critical software tools. The product is aimed at businesses with 25 to 250 PCs and is currently in beta.

Like SBS 2008, Windows Essential Business Server 2008 also has a single management console for administrators. However, unlike SBS 2008, third parties can integrate their products into the console so they can be managed from it as well. In fact, Microsoft has already said that Symantec, Citrix, CA, Trend Micro, FullArmor, McAfee, and Quest are among the companies that will integrate products with the software.

"Based on our conversations with customers and partners, we felt the mid-market IT is a much different customer than a small-business owner, so we wanted to respect that in the way we designed the management UI for each product," said Steven VanRoekel, senior director in the server and tools division at Microsoft.

The clock is ticking for Windows XP

2008-02-20T08:54:00.001+05:30

The clock is ticking for Windows XP, the tried-and-true Microsoft operating system that millions of businesses and individuals depend on. Soon, the only Windows option will be Vista, an operating system that businesses as well as individuals have disliked and often avoided. The lackluster changes to Vista, coupled with the high costs of switching tens of millions of computers to it, have convinced InfoWorld that XP should not be retired as planned on June 30.

"Over the past year, CIOs and CTOs have consistently told me they see no significant benefits to Vista, and really don't want to spend the time and money to update all their computers, retrain their users, and deal with application incompatibilities for a cosmetic upgrade," said Galen Gruman, executive editor at InfoWorld.

Already, due to customer resistance to Vista, Microsoft has granted XP a stay of execution, delaying its scheduled demise from December 31, 2007, to June 30, 2008. But that's not enough. InfoWorld's editors believe Microsoft should make XP available indefinitely. Therefore, InfoWorld has launched a petition drive aimed at convincing Microsoft to not only stay XP's execution but to take it off Death Row.

"We encourage IT and business staff alike to sign the petition today and to ask their friends and colleagues to do the same," said Eric Knorr, editor in chief at InfoWorld. "In the past, Microsoft has responded to customer dissatisfaction and changed its plans, so there's reason to believe it will listen today if the message is loud enough," he added.

Under Microsoft's current plans, June 30 is the last day that Microsoft will have XP available for sale as shrink-wrapped software, as well as available from computer makers as an installation option on new computers. Makers of white-box computers can sell XP until December 31.

Does .NET With LINQ Beat Java?

2008-02-20T08:48:00.001+05:30

Framework's data query capabilities give it an edge, experts claim.

January 29, 2008 — There is a question some developers are asking: Has LINQ given Microsoft’s latest .NET Framework an edge over Java? Industry experts say “yes,” but with some caveats.

Microsoft shipped Language Integrated Query as part of the .NET Framework 3.5 in November. LINQ was originally one of many research projects that the company has under way. LINQ integrates query concepts directly into .NET programming languages using a syntax that is similar to SQL, to simplify the querying of data, objects and XML.

Patrick Hynds, president of security consultancy CriticalSites, said that LINQ is “an object-oriented revolution for data,” because it, like object-oriented programming, allows programmers to write code that is more like the way people think.

Before LINQ, he explained, developers had to adapt to a particular programming language’s precepts of the way data was organized and accessed. “One of the key things that I found about Java is that it has been very comfortable to make the developer conform to what ‘they’ [Sun and The Java Community Process executive committee] thought that the developer should use,” Hynds noted, adding that Microsoft’s LINQ implementation deals with data in a more “conversant” way.

Hynds is a regional director of the Developer Platform evangelism group, volunteers recognized by Microsoft for technical expertise.

Other Options
RedMonk analyst Stephen O'Grady noted that while there may not currently be equivalent functionality within the Java platform, there are options for Java persistence that offer “LINQ-like functionality,” naming db4objects as an example.

Db4objects is an open-source object database for Java and .NET developers, which uses a technology called Native Query that can optimize native language constructs into queries, without relying on a particular language’s syntactical extensions.

Jonathan Bruce, program manager for .NET technology group at DataDirect Technologies, and formerly JDBC specification lead and architect for the Java platform at Sun, said that developers are “clearly excited” about what Microsoft has come up with, but cautioned that it is not as original as they make it out to be.

LINQ, Bruce said, is “elegantly packaged and tightly coupled with C#” and Visual Basic, but called the notion of tightly coupling queries to languages nothing new, citing embedded SQL as an example.

“What’s different is that they are neutralized the coupling between the query and data model, using the same query constructs against multiple data models,” he added. “It is a graceful part of the day-to-day programming language and easy to use with day-to-day programming models.”

Another advantage, he said, is that LINQ “takes the pain” out of allowing query-based programming, and that instead of relying on databases, it is done programmatically. “It is a big change for a lot of people,” he conceded.

Enter the Caveats
DataDirect’s Bruce acknowledged that from a productivity point of view, LINQ combined with its tooling gives .NET shops a productivity advantage that the Java community cannot match. He credits Microsoft’s ability to “package [productivity patterns and tooling] all up into something useful."

That said, he noted that LINQ is an unproven technology that is new to the market and said that he could not imagine anyone making corporate bets on LINQ just yet. “On the Java side, data access is rounded and stable. As a technology officer, it is an easier bet to make [on] what will reduce risks from a data perspective,” he explained.

Likewise, he noted that LINQ is highly static in nature, and that embedding queries within an application presents challenges to programming patterns. He explained that LINQ queries are tightly coupled to the source code and that LINQ makes it difficult to build dynamic queries.

“There is a ways to go before LINQ has broad acceptance across the data access market,” he said, adding that constructing more queries in a more dynamic manner is the “next horizon” for LINQ.

Bruce said that Java is making strides to answer LINQ’s progress by implementing scriptable languages such as Groovy and JRuby, making the platform more versatile by consuming functional languages that are written as scripts. He also cited the IBM JLINQ application framework as a worthwhile but “poorly marketed” attempt to answer the call of LINQ.

Another example is XQuery, a language designed to query XML data. XQuery, he said, does a better job with data from many venues because of XML’s flexibility. By contrast, he claimed, the current implementation of LINQ is very targeted to what the developer is querying and the ability to “mash up data sources” has not been delivered yet, Bruce explained.

He believes that a LINQ implementation combined with XQuery would enable Java to “reposition [itself] strongly against what Microsoft has done.” However, he added that the Java standards process could delay any Java-based alternative because Java platform technologies are only adopted if they become a formal part of it, or if the community reaches a tipping point, citing Hibernate as an example.

“If anyone ever comes up with a LINQ implementation even close to Microsoft’s,” he concluded, “it will never be integrated into the platform as well as Microsoft LINQ,” adding, “it will always be an uphill battle to make an apples-to-apples comparison.”

IT salary increases modest; gender gap widens

2008-02-20T08:46:00.001+05:30

Annual survey shows managers saw best salary increases in 2007

Salaries for IT pros only edged up in 2007 from 2006, and the gender gap widened to the point where women in IT are now making 12% less on average than male counterparts, according to the Dice.com annual technology salary report released Tuesday.

IT professionals on average earned just 1.7% more in 2007 than in 2006, with full-timers averaging about $72,000. Salaries rose 5.2% in 2006 from 2005. (Read Network World’s own 2007 salary survey here.)

2007 increases in specific job categories fared better, particularly for those in management positions. MIS managers saw a 7.8% increase in salary, bringing their average pay to about $89,000 in 2007. Project managers experienced an increase of about 5% -- which landed workers in those positions in the $100,000 and above club. Contractors experienced gains of 3.7%, which resulted in about $93,000 in salary.

Overall, more than half of the 19,000 tech professionals surveyed said they were satisfied with their salaries in a market that boasted just a 2.1% unemployment rate.

"Technology workers remain among the highest paid employees, especially those with management experience and hard-to-find skills," says Scot Melland, CEO of Dice Holdings, the parent company of Dice.com, a career site for technology and engineering professionals.

But the survey did reveal that gender continues to play a role in salary levels. Women in high-tech positions saw the salaries of their male counterparts increase by 2.4% last year while their salaries remained flat. Women in 2007 made about $67,500, while men earned more than $76,500. Dice.com reports that the gender gap is most severe for women IT pros with more experience.

"Lower skilled positions such as technical support and systems administrators had a smaller gender gap. Women with 1to 5 years of experience saw the smallest gender gap (approximately 2.3%) while women with more than 15 years of experience had the largest gap (11.3%); hence, women age 40-49 also saw the largest gender gap (16.4%)," the report reads.

On a positive note, Dice.com reports the gender gap in pay is smaller among female consultants at about 8.9%. And project management positions, which now pay six figures on average, pay women more equitably when compared to men.

"There is some good news for female IT professionals -- project managers now make $100,436, which marks the first time that females in this position have averaged more than $100,000. This position also compares relatively favorably to male counterparts, who earn $101,569," Dice.com reports.

Geographic location, not surprisingly, also plays a big role in salary levels, according to the survey. For instance, locations in Silicon Valley, Boston and Baltimore/Washington, D.C. saw higher salary increases in 2007 than others. Technology professionals in Silicon Valley earn the highest salaries, according to Dice.com's survey, bringing in $93,876 on average -- which represents a 3.95% increase over pay in 2006. Boston ranks as the second highest pay area, with IT pros making about $83,465 in 2007, a 3.93% increase over the previous year. Baltimore/D.C.-area high tech workers made $81,750 on average, followed by Los Angeles professionals who earned just more than $81,000, and New York rounded out the top five locations with IT pros taking home about $80,770 on average in 2007.

2008-02-20T08:39:00.001+05:30