The seven dirtiest jobs in IT

Dan Tynan, InfoWorld

Working in IT isn't always pretty. Some of us have to get dirty -- in some cases, literally. The good news? Master one of IT's dirty jobs and you're pretty much guaranteed work. We don't guarantee you'll like it, though. Here are seven of the dirtiest jobs in IT, and why they're needed. ...continue reading 'The seven dirtiest jobs in IT'

Buggy Microsoft Excel patch causes bad math

If you installed one of those Excel security patches issued by Microsoft earlier this week, you may want to double-check your math. ...continue reading 'Buggy Microsoft Excel patch causes bad math'

Microsoft blames Xbox shortages for lagging sales

Microsoft is citing a shortage in console availability as the reason its Xbox 360 console trailed substantially behind competitors in U.S. sales for the second month in a row in February, according to the latest numbers from the NPD Group. ...continue reading 'Microsoft blames Xbox shortages for lagging sales'

India may stop short of BlackBerry ban over security

The Indian government is continuing in its demand that Research In Motion make it legally possible for the government to intercept and monitor emails on the BlackBerry service offered by Indian service providers, but it is not likely to use a ban of the service as a bargaining counter. ...continue reading 'India may stop short of BlackBerry ban over security'

Intel expects Atom desktops for $199

Taking advantage of dropping hardware prices, Intel expects to plug its newest Atom chips into desktops that will be available later this year from under $200. ...continue reading 'Intel expects Atom desktops for $199'

IT News Podcast for 3/14/08

AOL buys Bebo for $850M ... Atom desktops to start at $199 ... Trend Micro falls victim to Web attack

Report: Microsoft, Yahoo enter tentative discussions

Microsoft and Yahoo executives met for the first time on Monday to discuss Microsoft's initial $44.6 billion cash and stock bid for the company, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. ...continue reading 'Report: Microsoft, Yahoo enter tentative discussions'

Wall Street Beat: IT M&A provides opportunities

Though many tech vendors are suffering as the widening U.S. financial crisis slows down consumer and business spending, IT mergers and acquisitions including bellwethers such as Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, Electronic Arts and AOL continue to reshape the technology landscape and provide opportunities for investors. ...continue reading 'Wall Street Beat: IT M&A provides opportunities'

Arcot brings two-factor authentication to Google Apps

Arcot Systems on Wednesday announced that it was making its A-OK On-Demand authentication service available to Google Apps Premier Edition users to add another layer of security to the logon process. ...continue reading 'Arcot brings two-factor authentication to Google Apps'

Trend Micro hit by massive Web hack

Security vendor Trend Micro has fallen victim to a widespread Web attack that splashed malicious software onto hundreds of legitimate Web sites in recent days. ...continue reading 'Trend Micro hit by massive Web hack'

Microsoft to buy Rapt for ad management tools

Microsoft hasn't yet snagged Yahoo, but it plans to acquire another company it hopes will boost its online advertising yields: Rapt, of San Francisco. ...continue reading 'Microsoft to buy Rapt for ad management tools'

Red Hat buys Amentra to bolster JBoss enterprise plan

Red Hat has purchased Amentra, an IT consulting firm with open-source expertise, to sell its JBoss Java infrastructure to enterprises as the basis for SOAs (service-oriented architectures). ...continue reading 'Red Hat buys Amentra to bolster JBoss enterprise plan'

Google launches hosted ad management service

Google launched a free hosted service on Thursday that helps Web site publishers sell advertising faster and fill unsold slots on their sites. ...continue reading 'Google launches hosted ad management service'

AOL to buy Bebo for $850 million

AOL will buy Bebo, a social networking site popular in the U.K., for $850 million in cash, the companies said Thursday. ...continue reading 'AOL to buy Bebo for $850 million'

Asus predicts Windows Eee PC will outsell Linux version

Asustek Computer predicts the Eee PC it has started selling with Microsoft Windows XP Home edition on board will outsell the original Linux-based version by a ratio of 6 to 4 in the market by the end of this year, a heady prediction considering the Windows machine costs nearly twice as much as the cheapest Linux one. ...continue reading 'Asus predicts Windows Eee PC will outsell Linux version'

EBay now letting Skype be Skype, exec says

Two-and-a-half years after buying Skype, eBay has moved away from trying to create new, merged capabilities through the acquisition and is letting Skype be what it is. ...continue reading 'EBay now letting Skype be Skype, exec says'

Heart device hack a shocker

It didn't take much to hack into the heart monitoring device and get it to administer a 137-volt shock: an oscilloscope, a PC, a wireless radio with a couple of antennas and some free software. ...continue reading 'Heart device hack a shocker'

Busy Twitter a poster child for new communications

Microblogging site Twitter had its busiest day ever Tuesday and needs more than 30 servers to help its thousands of users keep each other posted about their lives, founder Blaine Cook said Wednesday. ...continue reading 'Busy Twitter a poster child for new communications'

Seattle and Silicon Valley square off

In the way that really only an online discussion can, the debate over which place is better, Seattle or Silicon Valley, has spun into a gloves-are-off, let's-take-this-outside kind of brawl. ...continue reading 'Seattle and Silicon Valley square off'

Microsoft submits Windows 7 for U.S. antitrust review

Microsoft has submitted the follow-up to Windows Vista to the committee that oversees its U.S. antitrust compliance, to ensure the operating system is meeting the terms of the company's agreement with the government. ...continue reading 'Microsoft submits Windows 7 for U.S. antitrust review'

Gates repeats request for more H-1B visas

The U.S. is driving away the world's best engineers and computer scientists by putting limits on H-1B visas and other immigrant worker programs, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates told U.S. lawmakers Wednesday. ...continue reading 'Gates repeats request for more H-1B visas'

BT partners on software-based SMB phone system

BT has partnered with a U.S. company, RingCentral, to offer an Internet-based phone system in the U.K. that's easy for small and medium-size businesses to configure and maintain. ...continue reading 'BT partners on software-based SMB phone system'

Ballmer outlines Microsoft's enterprise ambitions

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer used his opening keynote at Microsoft's Convergence user conference to not only preview a number of updates to the company's Dynamics line of business software, but also to make a firm declaration of the software giant's enterprise market plans. ...continue reading 'Ballmer outlines Microsoft's enterprise ambitions'

Rigged Excel documents making the rounds

Security experts have warned that malicious Microsoft Excel documents are making the rounds via email, exploiting an unpatched Excel vulnerability that has been known publicly since January. ...continue reading 'Rigged Excel documents making the rounds'

Japan investigating reports of iPod nano fires

Japan is investigating a potential defect in an early generation iPod nano after one of the players reportedly emitted sparks while recharging. ...continue reading 'Japan investigating reports of iPod nano fires'

CDT launches health privacy initiative

Privacy needs to be a higher priority as the U.S. government and other groups push for adoption of health IT as a way to improve the country's health-care system, said the Center for Democracy and Technology, which has launched a health privacy initiative. ...continue reading 'CDT launches health privacy initiative'

3Com adds virtualization to routers

3Com has added a virtualization feature to its routers via a partnership with LineSider Technologies, a provider of policy-based network infrastructure control and management products. ...continue reading '3Com adds virtualization to routers'

Wal-Mart removes Linux PC from store shelves

Wal-Mart has stopped selling Everex's Linux-based PC in its stores because of a tepid response from customers, although it will continue to sell the product online, the retailer said Tuesday. ...continue reading 'Wal-Mart removes Linux PC from store shelves'

Two years after patch, another IE FTP flaw

A flaw in the way Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser processes FTP commands could let attackers steal or erase data from a victim's FTP site. ...continue reading 'Two years after patch, another IE FTP flaw'

DoubleClick could snap Google out of its funk

After getting approval from the European Union for its DoubleClick acquisition Tuesday, Google promptly closed the deal and said it is eager to absorb the digital marketing company's technology and services -- and who can blame Google for its urgency? ...continue reading 'DoubleClick could snap Google out of its funk'

Microsoft security updates focus on Office

Microsoft has released critical security patches for its Office software, fixing a flaw in Excel that had been exploited by attackers for the past two months. ...continue reading 'Microsoft security updates focus on Office'

Mozilla unleashes Firefox 3 Beta 4

Mozilla accelerated toward the final of Firefox 3 Monday by posting the fourth beta for download and immediately confirming that it would give developers just a week before it froze the code on the next. ...continue reading 'Mozilla unleashes Firefox 3 Beta 4'

E.U. approves Google-DoubleClick deal

Google's acquisition of DoubleClick does not pose a significant threat to competition in the European online advertising market, the European Commission said Tuesday. However, it reminded the companies that they also have an obligation to respect European Union legislation on the privacy of personal data, one of the grounds on which opponents lobbied to block the merger. ...continue reading 'E.U. approves Google-DoubleClick deal'

Scientists seek to create "robo-turtle"

Most sea turtles who lose three flippers simply can't survive in their watery environment. But Texas conservationists have managed to nurse one such critter back from the brink. Now they want to equip it with a cyborg flipper that will presumably allow it to swim normally -- and hunt down and destroy the motorboat that took its biological limbs. ...read more

HP shows off future printing technologies

Hewlett-Packard Monday offered a peek into future printing technologies, introducing a new inkjet printer that prints thousands of pages per minute and ink that retains its shine even when exposed to extreme elements. ...continue reading 'HP shows off future printing technologies'

TI reveals bad news in 3G handset market

Texas Instruments, the world's second largest maker of chips for mobile phones, Monday lowered its guidance for the first quarter on slumping demand for chips in higher-end mobile phones, including 3G (third generation) handsets. ...continue reading 'TI reveals bad news in 3G handset market'

Qualcomm buys Irish mobile ad targeting company

Qualcomm has bought Irish software developer Xiam Technologies, a specialist in the targeting of mobile advertising, for $32 million. ...continue reading 'Qualcomm buys Irish mobile ad targeting company'

Chunghwa may be first to sell Chinese Google phone

Chunghwa Telecom may become the first mobile phone network operator to offer users a Chinese-language Google phone, courtesy of its close relationship with smartphone maker High Tech Computer (HTC). ...continue reading 'Chunghwa may be first to sell Chinese Google phone'

Cisco to patch routers on regular schedule

Following the lead of Microsoft and Oracle, Cisco Systems will start releasing security patches for some of its products on a schedule. ...continue reading 'Cisco to patch routers on regular schedule'

IBM pledges $1 billion to unified communications

IBM has committed to investing $1 billion in its unified communications strategy in the next three years as it sharpens its sword to do battle with Microsoft in a fast-growing market. ...continue reading 'IBM pledges $1 billion to unified communications'

IT budgets to rise as Vista bites

U.K. companies' IT spending is likely to grow above inflation this year, with Windows Vista and mobile computing hardware consuming much of the increase, a new study from the National Computing Centre (NCC) has said. ...continue reading 'IT budgets to rise as Vista bites'

UK computer store finds encrypted disc in eBay buy

The British government has suffered a series of high-profile losses and thefts of disks containing confidential personal data. That's why the technicians at a computer shop in Bolton called the cops when they found a CD hidden behind the keyboard of a laptop they bought on eBay. The disc contained encrypted data and was whisked away by counterterrorism officers. ...read more

IBM, Hitachi team up to advance chip research

IBM and Hitachi are expected to announce a research agreement on Monday in which the companies will collaborate to improve semiconductor technology, including shrinking the features on silicon chips. ...continue reading 'IBM, Hitachi team up to advance chip research'

Atom-based notebooks to cost between $250 and $300

More than 25 low-cost notebooks based on Intel's upcoming Atom processor are in the works, including models from multinational PC vendors, according to the chip maker's top executive in Asia. ...continue reading 'Atom-based notebooks to cost between $250 and $300'

Gartner warns of rising chip inventories

Global inventories of semiconductors, the building blocks of electronic devices, spiked in the fourth quarter due to lackluster fourth quarter gadget sales and lower expectations for sales in the first quarter, Gartner said Monday. ...continue reading 'Gartner warns of rising chip inventories'

Ericsson predicts demise for hotspots

As mobile broadband takes off, Wi-Fi hotspots will become as irrelevant as telephone booths, Ericsson Chief Marketing Officer Johan Bergendahl said Monday. ...continue reading 'Ericsson predicts demise for hotspots'

Analyst endorses Siemens' 802.11n power claims

A leading wireless analyst has vindicated Siemens' surprising claims to have cracked an 802.11n problem which has stumped other Wi-Fi vendors. But how Siemens achieved its feat remains secret. ...continue reading 'Analyst endorses Siemens' 802.11n power claims'

iPhone is 'new era in gaming'

Gameloft has announced plans to introduce over 15 iPhone/iPod touch games by the end of 2008. The mobile gaming company's developers have already begun using Apple's newly-released beta iPhone SDK. It's a natural fit, as the company already produces games for the iPod. ...continue reading 'iPhone is 'new era in gaming''