Topics by Techwriter10

According to a recent [URL="http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/11/23/microsoft-to-rebrand-search-will-it-be-kumo/"]TechCrunch article[/URL], Microsoft is planning to rename its Live Search product, Kumar, which means cloud or spider in Japanese. What Microsoft needs to learn, and what the [URL="http://www.apple.com/getamac/ads/"]Get a Mac ads [/URL]have captured so well, is that it's not about PR or branding or the name …

I've had my iPhone for about a month now and for the most part I'm very pleased with it, but if I could have a meeting with Apple engineers, there are a few things I would tell them to change: [B]1 Protect the Glass Out of the Box[/B] Perhaps my …

In a report on enterprise open source usage released this week, Gartner research director Laurie Wurster stated in rather strong language that companies could face a big intellectual property issue because they are using the software without understanding the IP implications of the licensing language. But is she exaggerating the …

[I]Way down deep it's the same old you Way down deep you ain't hiding the truth Just for a minute you had me confused Baby way down deep it's the same old you ~Tom Petty, Same Old You.[/I] My colleague Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols in his aptly titled [URL="http://blogs.computerworld.com/the_big_windows_7_lie"]Cyber Cynic[/URL] column …

I was watching a [URL="http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1568178642/bctid1906856143"]video[/URL] of a panel from the Web 2.0 Summit on [URL="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/cloud_computing_panel_at_web_2.php"]ReadWriteWeb[/URL]. I've had a growing fascination with Cloud Computing in recent months, and this particular panel included key players from Google, Salesforce.com, Adobe and VMware (with Tim O'Reilly acting as panel moderator). As each man made …

Microsoft announced a new program the other day called [URL="http://www.microsoftstartupzone.com/BIZSPARK/Pages/At_a_Glance.aspx"] Microsoft BizSpark[/URL], where they give away a boat load of software and services to young startups and presumably lock them into Microsoft long-term. For a small start-up with little capital, this has to be a very attractive offer. Microsoft not …

[URL="http://www.salesforce.com"]Salesforce.com[/URL], best known for its cloud-based CRM package, announced on Monday that it would be providing web hosting services for web sites, intranets and web-based applications. The announcement comes on the heels of Microsoft's coming out party for its [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry3431.html"]cloud computing services platform called Azure[/URL] last week at the Professional …

This week at the Professional Developer's Conference in Los Angeles, Microsoft made a big splash by announcing a new [URL="http://cooney.typepad.com/lauren_cooneys_blog/2008/10/welcome-azure-qa-from-the-experts.html"]cloud computing initiative it's calling Azure[/URL]. It's significant on several levels. First of all Microsoft wants to compete with services like [URL="http://aws.amazon.com/"]Amazon S3[/URL] and offer online storage and online computational services. …

[I]“Informed decision-making comes from a long tradition of guessing and then blaming others for inadequate results.” ~Scott Adams. [/I] There is a battle going on out there in cell phone land involving the 3 hottest-of-hot cell phones. I write of course about[URL="http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/specials/iPhone.jsp"] the iPhone from AT&T[/URL], the [URL="http://www.t-mobileg1.com/"]G1 from T-Mobile[/URL] …

[I]You can do one of two things; just shut up, which is something I don't find easy, or learn an awful lot very fast which is what I tried to do. ~Jane Fonda [/I] Steve Ballmer doesn't seem to have learned Jane Fonda's big life lesson. In fact, dude doesn't …

Rumors are flying this week ahead of Apple's big Mac Book event on Tuesday that it will announce the long rumored sub-$1000 notebook. In fact, my friends at [URL="http://www.tuaw.com/2008/10/09/800-for-a-new-macbook/"]The Unofficial Apple Weblog[/URL] are reporting that someone has gotten their hands on a price sheet ahead of the announcement suggesting that …

My post the other day, [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry3277.html"]Does Using Gmail Mean You're Stupid[/URL], produced some thoughtful comments from people that made me me think harder about the advantages and disadvantages of Cloud Computing. There are security risks and data ownership issues that you have to take into consideration. To get another point …

Everyone is all ga-ga this week over the [URL="http://www.t-mobileg1.com/"]G1[/URL], the new HTC phone from T-Mobile, which is the first phone powered by Google's Android phone OS. On one level, the geek in me certainly shares the excitement. It's open source. It's Google's first entree into the phone market. I'm not …

Over the past year or so, [URL="http://twitter.com/"]Twitter[/URL] has become a full-blown communications phenomenon. For those of you who don't follow every social networking trend. Twitter is a micro-blogging site where you enter your thoughts, whatever they may be, in 140 or characters or less. Experts say if you aren't paying …

Google quietly introduced an audio search tool called[URL="http://labs.google.com/gaudi"] GAudi[/URL] this week in [URL="http://labs.google.com/"]Google Labs[/URL]. For now, Google is using to the tool for experimentation purposes to index political content on YouTube videos, but chances are they are exploring this for more than good citizenship points and will expand it at …

After months of speculation, [URL="http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/09/16/android-phone-the-g1-to-ship-mid-october/"]TechCrunch[/URL] reports that the first Android powered phone, the HTC Dream is set to be released in the US by T-Mobile on October 20th. T-Mobile did not return my calls to confirm or deny this rumor, but one thing is certain, the iPhone is no longer …

The second [URL="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBWPf1BWtkw"]Microsoft-Seinfeld ad[/URL] was released Friday. It had a few funny moments, but once again left most people shaking their heads wondering exactly what Microsoft hopes to achieve. I'm not sure they know. Although they may have a game plan, it's hard for anyone to see exactly what it …

The other day I downloaded the latest version of iTunes and discovered the much-heralded Genius feature is a not-so subtle way to sell content on iTunes. When I heard about the Genius feature, I mistakenly thought it was like Peter Gabriel's [URL="http://byronmiller.typepad.com/byronmiller/2007/04/filter_tool_for.html"]Filter[/URL] tool, a very cool utility for iTunes, which …

According to a [URL="http://gizmodo.com/5046463/apple-admits-british-man-invented-ipod-in-1979-uses-him-to-win-patent-lawsuit"]Gizmodo post[/URL] published on Sunday, a British man claims he invented the iPod (or at least a prototype of what would become a portable music player) way back in 1979, the same year the [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walkman"]Walkman[/URL] cassette player first went on sale in Japan. Up to that point, …

[I]"Jerry, I have to tell you something. This is the dullest moment I've ever experienced." - George, watching laundry, in "Good News, Bad News" episode of Seinfeld. [/I] I woke up this morning to find a [URL="http://startupmeme.com/microsofts-first-seinfeldgates-ad-a-home-run-to-trash-can/"]Tweet from Startupmeme[/URL] that the first Seinfeld ad for Microsoft had hit the airwaves. …

On a Friday afternoon before a holiday weekend, Comcast released its latest volley against its customer base, announcing a 250 GB monthly download limit. According to reports, after the first violation, you will get a message from your friends at Comcast warning you about your dastardly behavior (aka using the …

For the past couple of years I volunteered at my son's elementary school to set up blogs for his classroom, but the projects never got off the ground. Nervous school IT staff unable to find a platform that offered them the privacy and control they wanted, and knew parents would …

Microsoft has announced a $300M dollar ad campaign, featuring 90s TV star [URL="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098904/"]Jerry Seinfeld[/URL], which according to multiple reports has been designed to save Vista and salvage Microsoft's battered reputation. There is so much wrong with this strategy, it's really hard to know where to start. First of all, the …

Microsoft products have always presented a paradox for organizations. On one hand they seem to be universally derided. On the other, they remain the corporate standard. Open source, SaaS/online and other alternatives have had a hard time gaining widespread traction in large organizations. That's partly because companies would likely rather …

There’s an old saying, 'What do you want for nothing, your money back?' But the fact is there is lots of good free software out there. Much of it has a much smaller footprint than your typical Windows software from Mega Corporation (you know which companies I’m talking about) and …

Is your vendor giving you trouble? Won’t respond to your calls? Won’t help with your problem? Who you gonna call? Well, when I spoke to [URL="http://www.brentleary.com/"]Brent Leary[/URL], a partner at [URL="http://www.crm-essentials.com/"]CRM Essentials[/URL], yesterday, Leary surprised me when he suggested if your vendor won’t help you, go on [URL="http://twitter.com/home"]Twitter[/URL], find a …

By all rights, iPhone consumers should be storming the gates of Apple headquarters this morning in true [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bastille_Day"]Bastille Day[/URL] fashion after Friday's mishandling of the iPhone 3G launch, but as far as I know all remains calm in Cupertino, and consumers remain strangely silent over the whole affair. In a …

[I]It's not always easy, And sometimes life can be deceiving, I'll tell you one thing, its always better when we're together ~Jack Johnson, Better Together. [/I] [URL="http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2008/07/11/schmidt_independent_yahoo_better_for_competition/"]AP is reporting [/URL]this morning that Eric Schmidt, he being CEO of the great and almighty Google, thinks it would better if Yahoo! remained …

[I]Nothing's wrong as far as I can see We make it harder than it has to be and I can't tell you why ~Eagles, I Can’t Tell You Why. [/I] Apple and Adobe have both gotten some press lately for going to the trademark police after a couple of small …

Last week [URL="http://www.adobe.com"]Adobe[/URL] surprised a few people—well, at least it surprised me--with the announcement that it was including [URL="http://www.alfresco.com/"]Alfresco[/URL] content management services as part of its LiveCycle Enterprise Suite Update 1 package. The surprise was two-fold, that Adobe felt it was necessary to add content management services at all and …

Cloud computing or software as a service (SaaS) has a lot of advantages, especially for small and medium sized companies with fewer resources to devote to an IT infrastructure. The cloud vendors, whether [URL="http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/var_1c.html"]Google[/URL], [URL="http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html?node=16427261"]Amazon[/URL], [URL="http://www.salesforce.com"]Salesforce.com[/URL] (or whatever company) provide all the software and back-end infrastructure support. They even update …

[I]All of us might wish at times that we lived in a more tranquil world, but we don't. And if our times are difficult and perplexing, so are they challenging and filled with opportunity.[/I] ~Robert Kennedy Bobby Kennedy undoubtedly wasn’t thinking about global warming when he made this statement all …

Google might have failed in its attempts to build its own social network, but the Google Friend Connect system preview, announced on Monday, could go a long way toward providing web site owners with an easy way to add social features to their sites and get access to users on …

Even though RIAA executives will probably spit out their coffee if they happen upon this post, I’m going to give you a round-up of some of my favorite free (and completely legal) internet music services. [URL="http://www.we7.com"]WE7[/URL]: This free site delivers free tracks from mostly unknown artists (although you will find …

I'm no Microsoft basher, but I've never hidden my personal loathing for Vista. Yet even I was surprised to learn this week just how cynical Microsoft appears to be regarding Vista. It started the other day when a Steve Ballmer speech to the [URL="http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/"]Microsoft MVPs [/URL]leaked out. According to several …

Apple's quarterly earnings report came out the other day and in spite of the economy and Steve Jobs' health and everything else, Apple blew away their quarterly projections. How do you think they keep doing it? What makes people keep buying their products in spite of the economic climate that …

I'm looking for an alternative to Feedburner to track my blog stats and manage subscriber information. Can anyone recommend a similar service. I would be willing to pay a fee for a reliable alternative. Ron Miller [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/blog313540.html"]DaniWeb TechTreasures by Ron Miller blog[/URL]