ANTenna Blog -- November 2009 Archive

Twilight's Latest Hacking: Vampire Byte Scam Targets Stephanie Meyer Fans

Posted by Keith Ferrell 01:13 PM ET | Nov 20, 2009

Scareware masquerading as an interview with Twilight author Stephanie Meyer is making the rounds, and fast. Time to pass the word to any of your employees who are Twilight-obsessed and, more importantly, have them pass the word to their kids who may well be chasing the phenomenon on the same computers their parents may use for work-at-home.

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Business & E-Business | Messaging | Security

Quark Promote Enters Web-To-Print Market

Posted by Fredric Paul 02:00 PM ET | Nov 19, 2009

Buying print services over the Web isn't new, but design-software maker Quark is trying to up the ante with templates that pull together everything from brochures to business cards with a common theme. Oh, and free shipping, too.

Yes, Virginia -- There IS A Google Phone

Posted by Matthew McKenzie 07:14 PM ET | Nov 18, 2009

So -- you stay in touch with Google Mail, edit Google Docs, and surf the Web with Google Chrome. You're curious about Google Voice and intrigued over Google Music. Is it just a matter of time before you're carrying a Google Phone?

Could Linux Fall Prey To Windows Malware?

Posted by Matthew McKenzie 05:20 PM ET | Nov 18, 2009

Can software that allows you to run Windows software on a Linux system also expose your system to Windows malware? In practice, the answer appears to be no.

New Mini NAS Enclosure Targets Small-Biz Users

Posted by Matthew McKenzie 04:00 PM ET | Nov 18, 2009

Addonics is selling a nifty little network attached storage enclosure that could be just the ticket for SOHO users.

Free SMB Firewall Offfered By Astaro

Posted by Keith Ferrell 02:28 PM ET | Nov 17, 2009

Security firm Astaro is offering free firewalls to small and midsized businesses starting today. Too good to be true? Maybe not.

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Business & E-Business | Internet/Web | Networking & Communications | Security

Entuity Shifts Network Management Focus

Posted by Paul Korzeniowski 09:36 AM ET | Nov 17, 2009

Management tools can tell small and midsize businesses a lot about their IT equipment: how much bandwidth is available, who is sending the largest files, and where data flows are slowing down. What many companies are more interested in, though, is which services are available, so Entuity revamped its management suite to deliver such features.

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Management

Intermedia Launches Hosted Version Of Exchange 2010 With "Guaranteed" Data Protection

Posted by Fredric Paul 06:45 PM ET | Nov 16, 2009

Intermedia says its the first third-party vendor to offer hosted Exchange 2010 service, and also claims to have the first "100% data protection guarantee." Just don't expect it to cover the real cost of your loss.

Handy Tool Makes Updating Mac Apps Easy

Posted by Jake Widman 04:09 PM ET | Nov 16, 2009

MacUpdate Desktop simplifies the process of keeping your applications, preference panes, and widgets up to date by automatically downloading and installing what you need.

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Apple | Company Size: 1-49 | Company Size: 50-249 | Hardware & Software

Energy Management Features Added to Spiceworks

Posted by Paul Korzeniowski 01:34 PM ET | Nov 16, 2009

Cost containment has become the company mantra recently. In response, many small and medium businesses are trying to reign in their runaway IT energy costs. Spiceworks became the latest vendor to try to attack that area, with a new energy management tool, one designed with Intel’s help.

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Management

Intuit Customer Manager Wants To be Your MyFirstCRM

Posted by Fredric Paul 05:58 AM ET | Nov 16, 2009

Intuit Customer Manager, the new customer relationship management app from the small-business powerhouse behind QuickBooks, is coming out of beta. After months of free beta availability, Intuit hopes to sign small businesses with fewer than 20 employees as paying customers.

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Company Size: 1-49 | Sales/Marketing | iPhone

Federal Data-Breach Bills: The Tip Of The Iceberg

Posted by Matthew McKenzie 09:45 PM ET | Nov 13, 2009

The Senate is considering two bills designed to revamp federal consumer data-privacy rules. But anyone who thinks these bills represent a wake-up call has already been sleeping way too long.

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Business & E-Business | Company Size: 1-49 | Government | IT | Security

Does Anyone Really Need A 1,000 Year DVD?

Posted by Matthew McKenzie 08:20 PM ET | Nov 13, 2009

A company is producing archival-grade DVDs that it claims will last 1,000 years. It's a catchy marketing claim, but can the underlying technology really serve a useful purpose?

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Backup | Disaster Recovery | Storage | Storage How-To

IDC Names Top SMB Vendors

Posted by Fredric Paul 06:33 PM ET | Nov 13, 2009

Research firm IDC calls out 16 companies that demonstrate innovation in meeting the needs of small and midsize companies in six broad areas. The list includes the usual suspects -- big vendors with broad product lines like HP and IBM -- but also a number of smaller contenders as well.

PC: I'm A Mac Too

Posted by Jake Widman 02:32 PM ET | Nov 13, 2009

A Microsoft employee acknowledges what everyone already knew -- Windows 7 is inspired by, if not a copy of, Mac OS X. Predictions of the end of the world prove to be exaggerated.

Spammers Pumping More (And More) Of The Same: Kaspersky

Posted by Keith Ferrell 10:54 AM ET | Nov 12, 2009

Spam rates jumped a full percentage point, to past 86% of all e-mail this past September, according to a report from Kaspersky Labs. So what else is new? Not a lot. And that's what's scary.

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Business & E-Business | Internet/Web | Security

Google's Super-Sized Storage: Not Such A Great Deal

Posted by Matthew McKenzie 10:45 PM ET | Nov 11, 2009

The Web is abuzz with reports that Google is practically giving away loads of online storage. But the hype is far more exciting than the reality.

Firefox Gets A Bad Rap From Shoddy Security Research

Posted by Matthew McKenzie 06:50 PM ET | Nov 11, 2009

Is Firefox currently the Web browser most likely to stick your PC with a dangerous security vulnerability? Only if you believe headlines written by people who really should know better.

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Company Size: 1-49 | Hardware & Software | Internet/Web | Open Source | Security

HP's 3Com Buy Adds To Its SMB Networking Arsenal

Posted by Paul Korzeniowski 06:38 PM ET | Nov 11, 2009

Consolidation is the watchword in the data center marketplace. Companies are collapsing their network, storage, and server equipment into single-function devices. The consolidation theme also applies to vendors, as one noteworthy networking supplier leaped into HP’s arms today.

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Networking & Communications

Google Offers 16 Terabytes Of Gmail Storage!

Posted by Fredric Paul 02:38 PM ET | Nov 11, 2009

I've been relying Gmail as my personal e-mail for more than 5 years now, and I often use it to "store" stuff that I want to be able find later. It's easy to just e-mail things to myself so I know it'll be available from anywhere. And still I'm using only 23% of the 7390 MB that Google now provides for free. Apparently, though, some people need more space, and Google is lowering its prices for additional storage -- offering 20GB for $5 a year -- and boosting available options all the way up to 16 Terabytes!

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Company Size: 1-49 | Company Size: 250-999 | Company Size: 50-249 | Messaging | Storage

Increased Demand Drives Wi-Fi HotSpot Deployments

Posted by Paul Korzeniowski 01:06 PM ET | Nov 11, 2009

Traveling on business and need a quick and easy way to access your company network? Well, plenty of options -- more than 1 billion -- are now available, so it should be relatively simple for you to make the connection.

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Mobile

IT Gut Check: 5 Hard Questions To Ask Yourself When Cutting IT Costs

Posted by Fredric Paul 08:30 AM ET | Nov 11, 2009

In today's harsh world of falling revenues, IT departments are increasingly being asked to cut spending. But that may be more complicated than it sounds. A network management expert offers 5 things to consider when making the hard choices.

Apple Releases Massive Snow Leopard Update

Posted by Jake Widman 01:35 PM ET | Nov 10, 2009

The new OS X 10.6.2 update fixes lots of general bugs and glitches and patches numerous security vulnerabilities. Reports are that it also disables at least some "hackintoshes," or PCs modified to run OS X.

Panda Launches SMB Cloud Security

Posted by Keith Ferrell 12:20 PM ET | Nov 10, 2009

Building on its cloud-based anti-virus service for consumers, Panda Security is launching Panda Cloud Protection, a hosted security service for small and midsized businesses.

Cisco Expands Collaboration Platform

Posted by Paul Korzeniowski 01:52 PM ET | Nov 9, 2009

As network technology has spread, collaboration has become the watchword in small and medium businesses. Companies are now exchange information not only with coworkers but also with customers and suppliers. Via acquisitions, Cisco has become a force in the collaboration space and recently added more items to its growing portfolio.

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Unified Communications

New Macintosh Online Support Service

Posted by Jake Widman 12:57 PM ET | Nov 9, 2009

Founded by longtime Mac consultants and support providers MacSupport.com offers technical help by phone and via remote access. Best suited for small and home businesses, the support is available on an ad hoc basis and is priced per problem.

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Apple | Company Size: 1-49 | IT | Management

Netgear Adds Features To Unmanaged Switches For SMBs

Posted by Fredric Paul 10:17 AM ET | Nov 9, 2009

The company hopes to differentiate its new ProSafe Plus "unmanaged switches" with a few key network monitoring and configuration features, including support for Virtual LANs (VLANs), Quality of Service (QoS), and cable testing.

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Company Size: 1-49 | Company Size: 250-999 | Company Size: 50-249 | Networking & Communications

Would You Be Willing To Bet Your Paycheck That You Could Find A Specific E-Mail From Your CEO From 18 Months Ago?

Posted by Fredric Paul 09:14 AM ET | Nov 9, 2009

That's the question posed by Danny Milgrad, Symantec senior manager, product marketing for Enterprise Vault. In a recent survey, Milgrad said, only 15% of IT managers answered yes. Milgrad, like many others, is counting on Microsoft Exchange 2010 to reshape the storage landscape.

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Company Size: 1-49 | Company Size: 250-999 | Company Size: 50-249 | Networking & Communications | Storage

Kaspersky Labs Introduces Mac Security Package

Posted by Jake Widman 06:11 PM ET | Nov 6, 2009

Internet security stalwart Kaspersky Labs has introduced Anti-Virus for Mac and is pitching it especially towards mixed-platform environments. The idea is to keep Macs from becoming unwitting malware hosts and infecting the PCs of their colleagues.

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Apple | Company Size: 1-49 | Company Size: 250-999 | Company Size: 50-249 | Security

Review Roundup: The Droid Delivers The Goods

Posted by Matthew McKenzie 02:06 PM ET | Nov 6, 2009

Chomping at the bit to pick up your new Droid? Before you pull the trigger, check out a round-up of the latest reviews, along with some deals that could save your company some money.

Top 3 Ways For SMBs To Cut Tech Costs?

Posted by Fredric Paul 10:06 PM ET | Nov 5, 2009

Today's Wall Street Journal offers small businesses a trio of tips on how to cut spending without hurting your business. And -- surprise -- it uses a bMighty Mid-Market Hero as an example!

Strip And Crimp: Cut Costs By Cutting Your Own Cables

Posted by Matthew McKenzie 09:17 PM ET | Nov 5, 2009

Sometimes, it's the little things that can save your company a bundle of money. Creating your own network cables is a perfect example.

New Ways To Run Windows On Your Macs

Posted by Jake Widman 08:38 PM ET | Nov 5, 2009

Both commercial options that let Mac-based businesses run Windows programs have gotten upgrades in the past week. Both VMware Fusion 3 and Parallels Desktop 5 claim to be significantly faster than existing versions, to integrate Windows better into the Mac experience, and to fully support Windows 7.

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Apple | Company Size: 1-49 | Company Size: 50-249 | Hardware & Software | Windows

Data Dedupe: Doing More -- A Lot More! -- With Less

Posted by Matthew McKenzie 04:09 PM ET | Nov 5, 2009

You're already familiar with file compression technology. Now meet its big brother -- data deduplication -- and learn how it can save your company a ton of money.

Cloud Security Certification In Development, But It Won't Be Quick

Posted by Keith Ferrell 12:06 PM ET | Nov 5, 2009

The news that formal security certification for cloud-based services is in development is welcome news indeed. The news that the players involved understand just how complicated devising a certification will be is also good news, however little it may seem so at the moment.

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Business & E-Business | Internet/Web | Security | Web 2.0

Small Business Economic Forecast: Cautious, With A Chance Of Pay Cuts

Posted by Fredric Paul 03:14 AM ET | Nov 5, 2009

A CDW survey finds that as the economic malaise drags on, less than half of SMBs are still optimistic about growth. SurePayroll, meanwhile, also notes drops in optimism, perhaps because small business salaries are taking a dive.

SMBs Loves Them Some Virtualization

Posted by Fredric Paul 02:07 AM ET | Nov 5, 2009

Small and midsize businesses may have been a bit late to the virtualization station, but falling prices have them moving quickly to catch up with larger enterprises. So says a recent Gartner survey of companies with 100- 999 employees.

Ubuntu's Software Center: A Promising Work In Progress

Posted by Matthew McKenzie 01:23 PM ET | Nov 4, 2009

There has been a lot of confusion and hand-wringing lately over Ubuntu's new Software Center feature. Some of this is clearly Canonical's fault, but some of it clearly is not.

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Company Size: 1-49 | Company Size: 250-999 | Hardware & Software | Linux | Open Source

FBI: SMBs Losing Millions To Cybercrooks

Posted by Keith Ferrell 10:39 AM ET | Nov 4, 2009

Cybercrooks may have tried to nab as much as $100 million from small and midsized U.S. businesses in payroll scams over he last year. Now the FBI is talking about how to protect yourself from this automated threat.

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Business & E-Business | Finance/Banking/Insurance | Government | Security

PayPal Opens Up And Gets Cheaper

Posted by Fredric Paul 01:42 AM ET | Nov 4, 2009

At PayPal's inaugural developers conference here in San Francisco, PayPal reiterated its commitment to opening up its technology platform and backed up the promise with new and improved APIs and significant cuts in the prices it charges to process payments. In the long run, this could mean new ways for small and midsize companies to charge customers and even pay their own bills.

BlackBerry Out-Innovates iPhone, Say SMBs

Posted by Fredric Paul 09:34 AM ET | Nov 3, 2009

In a recent survey, almost half (48%) of respondents rated BlackBerry the most innovative smartphone, compared to 29% most impressed with the iPhone. No other platform, including Android, garnered more than 5%. It may not be a big deal, though, because less than a quarter (24%) say they're ready to switch smartphones.

Polycom Enhances Business Handsets

Posted by Paul Korzeniowski 08:31 AM ET | Nov 3, 2009

As small and medium businesses turn to Unified Communications (UC) applications, flexibility is becoming an important buying consideration. In response, Polycom expanded its product portfolio by providing users with three more business phones.

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Unified Communications

Symantec's Backup Exec System Recovery 2010 Promises Proactive Protection For SMBs

Posted by Fredric Paul 08:12 AM ET | Nov 3, 2009

As recent surveys make it clear that many small and midsize companies are woefully under-informed and unprepared to deal with security issues, Symantec says its trying to reshape the security process away from from the typical "reactive mode" that requires users to actively manage the process.

GoToMyPC For Macs Now In Beta

Posted by Jake Widman 09:46 PM ET | Nov 2, 2009

Citrix has announced a public beta of the Mac version of its browser-based remote access service. The service enables access to an office Mac from any computer, including PCs.

Bank Tells Linux Users: Get Windows Or Get Lost

Posted by Matthew McKenzie 04:42 PM ET | Nov 2, 2009

Would you do business with a bank that forces you to take needless security risks? According to many Linux users, that is exactly what Citibank wants them to do.

New Specs Give Desktop Storage A Shot In The Arm

Posted by Matthew McKenzie 02:15 PM ET | Nov 2, 2009

Two long-awaited new technology standards promise to reshape the small-business storage market. But how long will it take for them to deliver the goods?

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: Storage | Backup | Company Size: 1-49 | Hardware & Software | Storage

DiVitas Broadens its Cell Phone Reach

Posted by Paul Korzeniowski 01:06 PM ET | Nov 2, 2009

The array of mobile devices that employees are carrying has been getting broader. Consequently, DiVitas, a leading supplier of mobile unified communication software, added support for Apple’s iPhone, Google’s Android, and Research in Motion’s Blackberry to its product portfolio.

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Mobile

Worm Infections Double In First Half Of Year: Microsoft

Posted by Keith Ferrell 12:10 PM ET | Nov 2, 2009

Microsoft's latest Security intelligence Report confirms what we all know: worms are spreading faster and faster, and although rogue anti-virus scams remain the top threat, the rate of worm infection doubled in the first six months of 2009.

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Internet/Web | Security | Web 2.0

Riverbed's Steelhead Mobile Controller 3.0 Adds Windows 7 Support And Extends "Branch Warming"

Posted by Fredric Paul 12:00 PM ET | Nov 2, 2009

The WAN optimization vendor says the latest version also includes HTTP and HTTPS acceleration and support for 64-bit applications.

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Company Size: 1-49 | Company Size: 250-999 | Company Size: 50-249 | Mobile | Networking & Communications

Lenovo Debuts ThinkCentre All-In-One PC -- For Business!

Posted by Fredric Paul 12:42 AM ET | Nov 2, 2009

All-In-One PCs have traditionally been aimed at the consumer market -- you know, for the kitchen counter and such. But Lenovo says it's ThinkCentre A70z was designed specifically for small and midsize businesses.

KACE Updates KBOX To Support Windows 7 Migration

Posted by Fredric Paul 12:39 AM ET | Nov 2, 2009

The latest versions of the KBOX 1000 and KBOX 2000 appliances are designed to help not just with upgrading to Microsoft's new operating system, but also with deployment and ongoing management.

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