ANTenna Blog -- January 2008 Archive

How many iPhones does it take to change a light bulb?

Posted by Alan Zeichick 05:02 PM ET | Jan 31, 2008

The answer is: I don't know. But when I get one, I'll let you know. But there are other riddles regarding the iPhone. One is... where are they? Apple says that it has shipped 3.75 million iPhones by the end of 2007. At that time, the only authorized telecom company for activating those iPhones was AT&T. However, AT&T reported activating just under 2 million iPhones.

Comments(1)
Apple

Open Access Guaranteed on 700 MHz Spectrum

Posted by Jake Widman 03:16 PM ET | Jan 31, 2008

The FCC auction for the C-Block of the 700 MHz spectrum passed its reserve price on the bid of a unknown company, assuring that that part of the spectrum will have an open access requirement.

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Networking & Communications

Senate Stimulus Bill out of Committee, Better for Business

Posted by Jake Widman 03:03 PM ET | Jan 31, 2008

The Senate Finance Committee approved an economic stimulus package with more provisions for small business tax relief than the version passed by the House last week. The full Senate vote is likely to come next Wednesday.

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Business & E-Business

Click-Fraud Rates On the Rise

Posted by Gayle Kesten 02:51 PM ET | Jan 31, 2008

Despite efforts to stop pay-per-click fraud, the industry average continued to rise last year, up 15 percent over 2006.

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Business & E-Business

The Recession is Coming! Quick, Start Hiring

Posted by Naomi Grossman 11:40 AM ET | Jan 31, 2008

Anyone who follows news on the economy knows the picture isn't great: a volatile stock market, a mortgage crisis, a credit crunch. If we were living in Paul Revere's day, we'd probably eventually see a man on a horse racing through our towns and cities shouting, "A recession is coming! A recession is coming!" Still, we get it. So, how should smaller businesses get ready for the inevitable?

Comments(1)
HR | IT | Strategy/Analysis/Biz Dev

India, Mideast Deal With Major Internet Outages

Posted by Gayle Kesten 10:32 AM ET | Jan 31, 2008

Cuts in two undersea cables in the Mediterranean has caused large-scale disruptions of Internet service in India and the Middle East.

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Business & E-Business

Juniper and Cisco Square Off in Enterprise Switching Ring

Posted by Paul Korzeniowski 05:51 AM ET | Jan 31, 2008

How intense is the rivalry between Cisco and Juniper. One day after Cisco made its most significant switch announcement in years, Juniper followed with its own magnum opus. Coincidence? Hardly, but a competition that will benefit small and medium businesses.

Dispute over ISP Content Filtering Continues

Posted by Jake Widman 04:49 PM ET | Jan 30, 2008

The argument about whether Internet service providers should, or are even legally entitled to, monitor traffic on their networks and restrict certain content continued on three fronts.

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Networking & Communications

SBA Accused of Slighting Women

Posted by Jake Widman 04:33 PM ET | Jan 30, 2008

Women's business organizations plan to attend a U.S. Senate hearing today, to protest the Small Business Administration's choice of industrial sectors eligible for set-asides for women-owned businesses.

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Business & E-Business

Microsoft Security Patch Shown to Be Necessary

Posted by Jake Widman 04:19 PM ET | Jan 30, 2008

If you skipped Microsoft's first security patch of 2008, a new demonstration of its vulnerability should spur you to action.

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Security

Dell Ditches Kiosks

Posted by Gayle Kesten 03:16 PM ET | Jan 30, 2008

Looks like Wal-Mart and Best Buy are working out: Dell, the world?s second-largest computer maker, is closing its U.S. shopping mall and airport kiosks while embracing a global retail strategy that has placed its hardware in thousands of stores around the world.

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Hardware & Software

The State of Green Business: Are You Trying, Smaller Businesses?

Posted by Naomi Grossman 12:41 PM ET | Jan 30, 2008

A report evaluating the effort of businesses to get "greener" has just been released and its results are, at first glance, disheartening. But for smaller businesses the "green" possibilities are there.

Comments(1)
Green Business | Strategy/Analysis/Biz Dev

IBM Intros New Virtualization Technology for SMBs

Posted by Gayle Kesten 10:18 AM ET | Jan 30, 2008

IBM has unveiled PowerVM Express, a new virtualization platform designed to help SMBs reduce energy costs and lower overall IT costs.

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Hardware & Software

Security Threat: Ignorant Users?

Posted by Jake Widman 06:58 PM ET | Jan 29, 2008

According to a survey sponsored by Malta-based security software vendor GFI Software of IT managers at small and midsize businesses in the U.S., their companies' chief security need isn't money or software; it's smarter users.

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Security

What the Stimulus Package Means for Small Business

Posted by Jake Widman 06:43 PM ET | Jan 29, 2008

Today the House of Representatives passed the $146 billion fiscal stimulus package it worked out in concert with the Bush administration. Assuming the Senate goes along with it--no sure thing--what does it mean for small and medium-size businesses?

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Business & E-Business

Free Identity Theft Webinar Tomorrow

Posted by Keith Ferrell 01:39 PM ET | Jan 29, 2008

This week's release of a new report on Identity Theft (and strategies for avoiding and combating it) will be accompanied by an online Identity Theft Webinar tomorrow, Thursday, January 31, at 2 pm EST.

Nokia Acquires Open-Source Software Company

Posted by Gayle Kesten 01:09 PM ET | Jan 29, 2008

Mobile phone maker Nokia has bought a software company in Norway it says will speed the development of programs for its wireless devices and desktop systems, and bolster its Internet services.

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Mobile

Palm Exits Retail, Settles Treo Lawsuit

Posted by Gayle Kesten 12:26 PM ET | Jan 29, 2008

And then there was one. Smartphone maker Palm says it?s planning to shutter 33 of its 34 retail stores, most of which are in airports, to better compete in the mobile market.

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Mobile

Report: Smaller Businesses Getting Smarter About Their IT Dollars

Posted by Naomi Grossman 09:25 AM ET | Jan 29, 2008

Amid all the reports predicting that companies are going to be increasingly cautious in their IT spending this year, is one focused on small and midsize businesses. It's conclusion? Smaller businesses are learning that IT could help them grow.

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Hardware & Software | IT | Strategy/Analysis/Biz Dev

The Integration of Storage and Switching Takes a Giant Step Forward

Posted by Paul Korzeniowski 06:06 AM ET | Jan 29, 2008

At one time, networking functions were placed in stand-alone devices. Recently, suppliers tried to reduce the number of products needed – and simplify deployment and maintenance -- by integrating different functions into one device, a trend industry giant Cisco heartily endorsed.

State of the Union Means State of the Economy

Posted by Jake Widman 06:40 PM ET | Jan 28, 2008

President Bush, in what will probably be his last State of the Union address tonight, is expected to focus on economic issues and measures to forestall a recession.

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Business & E-Business

Get Ready for Web 2.0 Strategies

Posted by Jake Widman 06:27 PM ET | Jan 28, 2008

Industry researchers and analysts Forrester Research have released a report predicting that businesses will increasingly turn to Web 2.0 tools such as RSS feeds, wikis, and social networking platforms to manage internal information.

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Hardware & Software | Networking & Communications

Juniper Readies LAN Switches

Posted by Gayle Kesten 12:37 PM ET | Jan 28, 2008

Juniper Networks is preparing for a hurricane, only this one involves a line of switches for local area networks.

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Networking & Communications

Did you know there's a dictionary in Mac OS X 10.5 "Leopard"?

Posted by Alan Zeichick 11:30 AM ET | Jan 28, 2008

It's the helpful little program that I never noticed, but I stumbled on Dictionary when looking in my "Applications" folder over the weekend.

Comments(3)
Apple

Microsoft Adds Windows Home Server To Security Bulletin

Posted by Gayle Kesten 10:00 AM ET | Jan 28, 2008

Microsoft has added Windows Home Server to its list of products vulnerable to a critical bug announced nearly three weeks ago.

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Security

DEMO 08 Showcases Small Business Innovations

Posted by Fredric Paul 01:01 AM ET | Jan 28, 2008

Look for a handful of innovative small-business-oriented product introductions at this week’s Demo08 conference in the California desert. Just don’t count on the products arriving on time or truly changing the way your company does business.

Americans: Employers Should Help Us Get Health Care

Posted by Jake Widman 05:01 PM ET | Jan 25, 2008

According to a new survey, 80 percent of Americans think their employers should either be required to provide health insurance to their workers or contribute to a fund to help them buy it themselves.

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Business & E-Business

Microsoft Promotes Sunnier Economic Outlook

Posted by Jake Widman 04:52 PM ET | Jan 25, 2008

In news that was good not only for the company itself but for the stock market, Microsoft raised its earnings outlook above Wall Street expectations and reported a 79 percent rise in quarterly profit.

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Business & E-Business

Is Hardware Dead?

Posted by Fredric Paul 04:22 PM ET | Jan 25, 2008

As the Internet "cloud" lets Amazon, Yahoo! and EMC's Mozy rent computing power at bargain prices, is there a still reason for small and midsize companies to buy their own machines?

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Cloud Computing | Hardware & Software | IT | Services

Vista is the Most Secure OS. At Least Microsoft Says So

Posted by Naomi Grossman 12:15 PM ET | Jan 25, 2008

Microsoft tells us that Vista is the most secure of all the desktop operating systems. And my mother thinks I'm the smartest person ever. While both may or may not be true, the real question is: Is that all that matters?

Comments(4)
Hardware & Software | IT | Open Source | Windows

SMBs Boost Xerox's Q4 Results

Posted by Gayle Kesten 11:52 AM ET | Jan 25, 2008

When Xerox acquired Global Imaging Systems last spring, its intent was to expand its reach into the SMB market. Now it looks like that strategy is paying off.

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Hardware & Software

E-Business Lessons From The New England Patriots

Posted by Keith Ferrell 09:55 AM ET | Jan 25, 2008

No, not the usual "Every business needs a quarterback callings its plays" sort of football=business yada yada. Plenty of those around already -- but there are also plenty of good e-business lessons the Patriots can teach The team is as ready for varying and intense Web traffic patterns as the players are for opposition shifts and shimmies.

Time to Implement Security as a Service?

Posted by Paul Korzeniowski 05:22 AM ET | Jan 25, 2008

Software as a Service (SaaS) has been gaining acceptance among small and medium businesses because it eases maintenance and deployment requirements. Having been widely implemented in areas, such as Customer Relationship Management, it is now advancing into the security market.

Good Tech News Is Good News For IT

Posted by Fredric Paul 09:28 PM ET | Jan 24, 2008

Despite the reams of bad economic news lately, there are lots of indications that the technology industry is still going strong.

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Business & E-Business

Apple Struggles With iPod, iPhone Sales Issues

Posted by Fredric Paul 08:52 PM ET | Jan 24, 2008

Just days ago, it seemed that Apple could do no wrong. But now critics are coming out of the woodwork, worrying about slowing iPod sales growth and stacks of iPhones that could be languishing in AT&T stores. The stock has been hammered, but I wouldn't count Apple out yet.

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Federal Stimulus Package to Include Tax Break for Business

Posted by Jake Widman 06:57 PM ET | Jan 24, 2008

The rebate checks to individuals will get most of the attention, but the economic stimulus package worked out by the House of Representative and the White House will also include tax incentives for business.

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Business & E-Business

Lenovo Servers to Run IBM Software

Posted by Jake Widman 04:58 PM ET | Jan 24, 2008

IBM and Lenovo have agreed to cooperate on developing servers based on x86 chips and running IBM's System x server software.

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Hardware & Software

In-Flight Wi-Fi? No Thanks: Survey

Posted by Gayle Kesten 03:26 PM ET | Jan 24, 2008

Just days after Southwest Airlines and American Airlines announced plans to test in-flight Wi-Fi comes results from a survey of business travelers who say they?re really not interested.

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Mobile

Washington Mulls Corporate Tax Break

Posted by Gayle Kesten 09:35 AM ET | Jan 24, 2008

Companies in the red following years of profits stand to benefit from an emergency tax break under consideration by President Bush and lawmakers.

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Business & E-Business

Is Time Machine a viable Mac backup system? Yes, for remote users

Posted by Alan Zeichick 10:30 PM ET | Jan 23, 2008

Time Machine is a feature of Mac OS X 10.5 “Leopard,” and it’s a great backup system for consumers and home workers. For businesses, however, it has limitations.

Comments(5)
Apple

The iPod Touch as a WiFi computing platform

Posted by Alan Zeichick 09:05 PM ET | Jan 23, 2008

I used to think that my RIM BlackBerry was the best pocket communications device. Now, it’s become a real battle between the BlackBerry and my Apple iPod Touch (given to me over the holidays by a friend).

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Apple

Windows 7, Vista's Successor, Due Next Year?

Posted by Jake Widman 05:46 PM ET | Jan 23, 2008

Vista may finally be achieving significant market penetration, but the next version of Windows could be along sooner than expected.

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Hardware & Software

Dell Brings VoIP to Small Businesses

Posted by Jake Widman 05:32 PM ET | Jan 23, 2008

Dell has teamed up with Fonality, a developer of unified communications and contact center solutions for small and medium-sized businesses, to create a VoIP (Voice Over IP) phone system suitable for businesses with fewer than 150 employees.

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Networking & Communications

RIM Bolsters Blackberry To Better Compete With IBM, Apple

Posted by Gayle Kesten 02:04 PM ET | Jan 23, 2008

Research In Motion plans to make it easier for BlackBerry users?one-third of whom are small-business users and consumers?to use their wireless e-mail.

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Mobile

HP Intros Desktop With Solid-State Drive

Posted by Gayle Kesten 11:48 AM ET | Jan 23, 2008

Hewlett-Packard is taking the wraps off a desktop PC appropriate for customers that rely mainly on a single application.

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Hardware & Software

Can Windows XP Be Saved? Should It Be Saved?

Posted by Naomi Grossman 11:20 AM ET | Jan 23, 2008

Smaller businesses, Microsoft is going to stop sales of XP by the end of this year. Do you care? Should you care?

Comments(5)
Hardware & Software | IT

IBM to Build Foundations for SMBs

Posted by Jake Widman 04:21 PM ET | Jan 22, 2008

The rumored Lotus Notes for iPhone may be just that, a rumor, but IBM is readying a Lotus-branded technology, called Foundations, for businesses with 5 to 500 employees.

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Business & E-Business

Lotus Notes for iPhone: Not Yet

Posted by Jake Widman 04:07 PM ET | Jan 22, 2008

Last week's reports of the imminent arrival of Lotus Notes for the iPhone were apparently premature. According to an IBM spokesperson, "It's not...ready to go out and market or launch."

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Mobile

Overtime Pay and the FLSA: Danger Area for SMBs

Posted by Jake Widman 03:52 PM ET | Jan 22, 2008

More and more small businesses are facing lawsuits from their employees demanding back pay under the overtime rules in the U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act. The 2004 revisions to the Act have sown confusion over who is exempt from overtime pay and under what circumstances.

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Business & E-Business

Microsoft Muscles Into Virtualization Market

Posted by Gayle Kesten 11:15 AM ET | Jan 22, 2008

Microsoft has made a trio of announcements in its quest to take on VMware and others in the fast-growing area of virtualization.

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Hardware & Software

EMC Unveils Software As a Service For Data Backup

Posted by Gayle Kesten 09:54 AM ET | Jan 22, 2008

EMC today is introducing a service that lets businesses automatically and securely back up their desktops, laptops and branch-office Windows servers online.

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Hardware & Software

Sprint Reshuffles Operations to Stymie Growing Losses

Posted by Paul Korzeniowski 05:17 AM ET | Jan 22, 2008

The new year started off on an ominous note for Sprint Nextel employees: 4.000 of which will add the moniker former to their job titles. The changes underscore the wireless carrier’s ongoing struggle to compete in the cutthroat cellular market.

10 Commandments Of Business Blogging

Posted by Fredric Paul 11:05 PM ET | Jan 21, 2008

As far as I know, there are no rules for blogging. But you're blogging for your business, you may want to consider these ten tips:

Comment on this blog entry
Internet/Web

New Entry-Level Servers Due from IBM

Posted by Jake Widman 06:50 PM ET | Jan 18, 2008

During a conference call to present its 4Q2007 earnings, IBM announced that its Power6 chips would be extended into the lower-end models of its System p UNIX servers.

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Hardware & Software

Mandatory Sick Leave Spreading to Washington, D.C.

Posted by Jake Widman 06:06 PM ET | Jan 18, 2008

Washington, D.C., could soon become the second U.S. city to require businesses to provide paid sick leave to all employees. The city council will vote February 5 on whether Washington should join San Francisco in leading the national push for universal sick leave.

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Business & E-Business

Sprint Announces Major Job Cuts

Posted by Gayle Kesten 01:38 PM ET | Jan 18, 2008

Sprint Nextel plans to cut 4,000 jobs by the end of June to help offset losses resulting from a dwindling subscriber base, the company announced today.

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Mobile

Smaller Businesses Leading the Charge to Vista

Posted by Naomi Grossman 11:55 AM ET | Jan 18, 2008

Not only does a recent report demonstrate that Windows Vista is being adopted by more US businesses, but the findings also indicate that smaller businesses are moving to Vista the fastest. Why are smaller businesses feeling the "Wow"?

Comments(5)
Hardware & Software | IT

Data Lost on 650,000 J.C. Penney, Other Retail Customers

Posted by Martin Dolega 11:48 AM ET | Jan 18, 2008

Exactly one year since news spread about T.J. Maxx's massive data breach comes word that a computer tape containing information on 650,000 customers of J.C. Penney and up to 100 retailers is missing.

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Security

650,000 More Customer Records Lost: It's The Physical Security, Too, Stupid

Posted by Keith Ferrell 08:04 AM ET | Jan 18, 2008

A data tape containing 650,000 J.C. Penney and other retailers' customer records including Social Security numbers, has been missing since last October, but notification of all affected customers has yet to be completed. Lots of lessons in this one.

Oracle to Acquire Captovation

Posted by Jake Widman 09:22 PM ET | Jan 17, 2008

An hour after acquiring BEA, Larry Ellison was apparently hungry again. Today Oracle announced its agreement to buy document imaging software manufacturer Captovation.

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Business & E-Business

Time Warner Testing Metered Internet

Posted by Jake Widman 08:57 PM ET | Jan 17, 2008

A third giant broadband provider has launched an assault on heavy bandwidth users, this time by charging based on the amount of data consumed.

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Networking & Communications

Microsoft Windows Vista More Mainstream: Report

Posted by Gayle Kesten 11:46 AM ET | Jan 17, 2008

Windows Vista is making its way into more mainstream U.S. businesses, according to a CDW poll of more than 750 IT decision-makers.

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Hardware & Software

Analysts Report ?Healthy PC Market? -- For Now

Posted by Gayle Kesten 10:54 AM ET | Jan 17, 2008

Hewlett-Packard continued to lead its rivals in 2007 worldwide PC shipments, while Dell showed signs of recovery after a less-than-stellar year, according to reports from Gartner and IDC.

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Hardware & Software

The Cruel Irony Of The MacBook Air

Posted by Fredric Paul 08:07 PM ET | Jan 16, 2008

I've been waiting for a powerful notebook computer the size of an actual notebook for a very long time. And here Apple comes along with the MacBook Air and I'm not going to get one. Oh what cruel irony.

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Apple | Hardware & Software | Mobile

Sun To Buy MySQL In $1B Open-Source Deal

Posted by Gayle Kesten 04:41 PM ET | Jan 16, 2008

In what?s being hailed as the largest open-source software deal to date, Sun Microsystems has agreed to acquire open-source database vendor MySQL.

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Hardware & Software

Excel Security Flaw Poses Mac And Windows Risk

Posted by Keith Ferrell 03:21 PM ET | Jan 16, 2008

A Microsoft security advisory warns that some Excel users are at risk of attacks specifically targeting the vulnerability. Users who've installed Excel 2003 Service Pack 3, or who are running Office 2007 (Windows) or 2008 (Mac) should be protected.

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Apple | Hardware & Software | IT | Security

Oracle Acquires BEA

Posted by Gayle Kesten 01:54 PM ET | Jan 16, 2008

Three months after Oracle?s unsolicited multibillion-dollar bid for BEA Systems, the middleware maker has announced that it is, indeed, being acquired by Larry Ellison?s software powerhouse.

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Hardware & Software

Want Employees to Stay? Try Being a Good Boss

Posted by Naomi Grossman 12:17 PM ET | Jan 16, 2008

Whether there is an IT skills shortage or not, retaining talent -- which is crucial to a smaller business' success -- can often come down to another, frequently overlooked factor: What kind of boss you are.

Comments(1)
Business & E-Business | IT

IBM, Apple Team on E-Mail for iPhone

Posted by Gayle Kesten 09:46 AM ET | Jan 16, 2008

IBM and Apple Computer are collaborating more closely on the software front with news that Big Blue will make its Lotus Notes e-mail application available on iPhone and iPod Touch devices.

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Hardware & Software

Cost for SOX Compliance Less Than Expected: Study

Posted by Gayle Kesten 02:36 PM ET | Jan 15, 2008

Smaller companies are paying less to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) requirements than previously anticipated.

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Business & E-Business

Apple Introduces MacBook Air

Posted by Jake Widman 02:26 PM ET | Jan 15, 2008

It's a notebook! Apple ended weeks of speculation about what Steve Jobs would announce at Macworld Expo with this morning's introduction of "the world's thinnest notebook."

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Hardware & Software

Apple's business-friendly news at Macworld

Posted by Alan Zeichick 02:07 PM ET | Jan 15, 2008

Steve Jobs just completed his keynote speech at Macworld Expo. Much of what he talked about was focused on consumers, such as a new version of the Apple TV, and movie rentals from the iTunes Store. However, there were two announcements that we of potential business value coming from Apple:

Comment on this blog entry
Apple

Lithium Batteries Get New Lease on Life

Posted by Gayle Kesten 01:10 PM ET | Jan 15, 2008

Researchers from Stanford University have found a way to boost the staying power of laptop batteries from four hours to 40 hours--a tenfold improvement courtesy of a new type of silicon nanowire electrode.

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Hardware & Software

Is There an IT Skills Shortage in the US or Not?

Posted by Naomi Grossman 12:01 PM ET | Jan 15, 2008

Are there enough tech workers in this country or not? The debate rages on but there is one thing everyone agrees on: Smaller businesses are at the center of it all.

Comments(2)
IT | Strategy/Analysis/Biz Dev

10 Threats You Need To Worry About: SANS Report

Posted by Keith Ferrell 06:57 AM ET | Jan 15, 2008

SANS is out with its 2008 top threats report, and the outlook isn't good. While many of the threats are familiar, they're getting more sophisticated, supple, smart.

Comment on this blog entry
Business & E-Business | IT | Networking & Communications | Operations | Security

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