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Windows 7 Gets Auto-Upgrade Switch
Microsoft's Windows Anytime Upgrade program lets users migrate to a premium version of the OS with a mouse click.
Google Woos Business Users With Billboard Ad Campaign
The company that made Internet advertising what it is today has decided to promote Google Apps using really big display ads by the highway.
Shuttle Glides To Safe Landing
Endeavour completes 16-day mission with spot on touchdown.
SPSS Is Not the Story; IBM's Vision for Analytics Is
The media and my fellow analysts have been breathlessly touting IBM's acquisition of SPSS ($1.2B) as some sort groundbreaking to a new era of analytics. I don't see it that way... If anyone thinks the acquisition of SPSS marks IBM's serious entry into analytics, they've been sleeping...
Netezza Is Changing its Hardware Architecture, Slashing Prices
Netezza is about to make its biggest product announcement in years, cutting prices to less than $20K/terabyte of user data, replacing its PowerPC chips with Intel-based IBM blades and making substantial changes in how data flows between the various parts of a Netezza node for a claimed 10-15X increase in price-performance...
The CentOS Shakeup
A rift has opened within the ranks of the CentOS project -- a schism between the project's team and its leader that, to me, points up the differences between a "hobby" and a "professional" open source project.
Whacky Graphics at USAspending.gov
I started this blog entry with the intent of appraising USAspending.gov's IT Dashboard, a new, interactive tool for evaluation of Federal Government IT spending. Unfortunately, graphical issues start on USAspending.gov's main page with one downright whacky graphic. I can't recall the last time I saw a graphic that so distorted the numbers, so I tried to recreate it (and failed). Here's how...
SAP Demos Commitment To Business ByDesign
Enhancements and testing of the software-as-a-service suite indicate that SAP intends to make the offering more broadly available next year.
In SPSS, IBM Gains an Open R & Python Analytics Platform
I love telling folks that I ran my first SPSS programs in 1976... and that I haven't run one since. SPSS has long since reinvented itself as a predictive analytics vendor but brings other, less-visible assets to the IBM deal including the ability to patch Python and R code into SPSS routines. SPSS's Bring Your Own Analytics is a clear competitive differentiator with benefits for users and the company alike...
Shuttle Reentry Thruster Fails
A propulsion jet that guides Endeavour during descent to Earth has malfunctioned.
RIM Releases Developer Tool For BlackBerry
Mobile app makers can test and debug BlackBerry programs that use HTML, CSS, Ajax, Silverlight, Ruby on Rails, and other rich Internet applications.
Open Source: The Way, Not The Goal
I didn't make it to OSCON this year, so I missed out on more than a few nifty events. One was a panel chaired by Matt Asay of Alfresco, where he cited research to show that companies do switch to open source as a way to save money, but that there are other, much larger goals beyond that.
Global CIO: IBM's Game-Changing Plunge Into Predictive Analytics
Why IBM's plan to buy SPSS will greatly accelerate the evolution of not only IBM but also that of the entire IT industry.
Homeland Security Names A New CIO
The agency's new IT leader, Richard Spires, has private sector experience and previously led systems modernization efforts at the IRS.
Q&A: Veterans Affairs CIO Explains IT Overhaul
The recently appointed Chief Information Officer of the Department of Veterans Affairs discusses why 45 IT projects were put on hold and his plan for avoiding the mistakes of the past.
SPSS Gives IBM Advantages, But Can It Execute?
IBM's performance in the BI market has been sub-par, but the SPSS acquisition gives it a trump card against SAP and Oracle.
On The FAA's Slow And Steady SWIM To Open Source
After my talk earlier in the week about open source in health care, I turned to a parallel discussion -- using open source in a federal agency that's long been hidebound by closed-ended legacy systems. Namely, the FAA.
On SPSS and IBM's 'Time to Value' Promise
Building good predictive models requires a high degree of expertise and is not something that will become main stream any time soon... As for the IBM Smart Analytics System, the vision is enticing, but I'm skeptical customers will have the degree of flexibility they currently have.
Shuttle Crew Eyes Heat Shield Health
Endeavour astronauts are checking protective tiling to ensure it's ready for the voyage home.
IBM Announces 'Smart Analytics System' Aimed at Reinventing Data Warehousing
Performance-optimized products combine hardware, database and systems management with optional BI software and applications. IBM promises faster deployment, lower cost and better performance than conventional BI and warehouse deployments.
Initial reactions to IBM acquiring SPSS
One notable point is that SPSS is more SQL-oriented than SAS. Thus, SPSS has gotten performance benefits from Oracle's in-database data mining technology that SAS apparently hasn't... IBM's done a good job of keeping its acquired products working well with Oracle and other competitive DBMS in the past, and SPSS will surely be no exception.
Apple Nixes Google Voice From iPhone
The App Store won't carry Google's app that lets users send free text messages, make inexpensive long-distance calls, and funnel multiple phone numbers to a single number.
Shuttle Endeavour Departs Space Station
NASA craft undocks as crewmembers say farewell to ISS's resident astronauts.
Medsphere's Open Source Health Upgrade
The other day I spoke with Rick Jung, COO of Medsphere, of the commercial open source health care software package OpenVista. Their mission: to get health care providers of all strata to use open source, save a bunch of money, and change the way we do this stuff for keeps.
IBM To Acquire SPSS For $1.2 Billion
Big Blue also revealed a separate deal to buy out security and compliance vendor Ounce Labs for an undisclosed sum.
IBM Takes SPSS for $1.2 Billion
I'm at IBM's research center in Hawthorne, NY, today where a presentation is about to take place on the IBM Smart Analytics System, which is a rebranding of the InfoSphere Balanced Warehouse solutions with prepackacked content such as vertical domain modules and solution accelerators. The bombshell announcement that everybody wants to hear about, though, is IBM's $1.2 acquisition of Chicago-based SPSS...
Inside Terremark's Secure Government Data Center
Terremark's new cloud-computing facility for U.S. government customers features concrete walls, bomb-sniffing dogs, motion-sensing videocams, and a promise of 100% service availability.
Best Video Editing Apps For Bloggers
We look at Adobe Premiere Elements, DeskShare Auto Movie Creator, Cyberlink PowerDirector, Corel VideoStudio, and other video editing software for vloggers.
Cash For Clunkers Info Available Online
Cars.gov offers a number of tools to help consumers get up to $4,500 in auto rebates.
Google Shows Off Next Android Build
The "Donut" branch features support for CDMA devices, automatic backup, and text-to-speech, but it won't have multi-touch support.
Astronauts Complete Five Hour Spacewalk
Shuttle crewmembers perform a range of housekeeping duties outside the International Space Station.
Teaching Elephants to Dance
In these tough times, even the most change-resistant organizations are reexamining whether past practice should continue to govern standard operating procedures. Government and airlines, for example, spring to mind. I recently saw evidence of this in delivering a BPMN training class to one of the many Federal agencies involved in financial regulation...
Informatica Takes PowerCenter to the Clouds
With data fast moving into the cloud, an integration independent delivers its software via Amazon EC2.
Is This The Right Room For An Argument About Open Source?
Any discussion about open source that doesn't bristle at least some hairs isn't worth having. That doesn't make the other guy right -- but it does mean nobody's going to learn anything as long as we just pat each other on the shoulder. Some conflict is vital.
Windows 7 Promises Faster Graphics
DirectX Compute and other new features let the OS fully leverage the power of today's advanced GPUs.
Loyalty Card Marketing Meets Location Intelligence
Chockstone visualizes sales patterns and marketing returns at Subway and other quick-serve restaurants.
Attensity Mines Customer Comments
Attensity Group is offering Web-based software that can mine customers' comments in surveys to better understand their sentiments, satisfaction, loyalty and potential product or service issues.
Open Text Launches iPhone App
The FirstClass Mobile client takes advantage of the iPhone's and iPod Touch's capabilities for playing and sharing sound and video files and displaying and sending photos. Users can play voicemail messages from their mailbox and access FirstClass calendars and contacts.
Feds Seek Input On Web Site Cookie Policy
The government wants to use cookies to offer more personalized Web sites to citizens, better analytics to Webmasters.
Twitter Launches Tools For Businesses
The micro-blogging service hopes that its search widget and user manual will help businesses use Twitter for marketing --- and boost its own revenue.
Motorola Makes Big Push For Android Developers
The Motodev program is aimed at making it easier and faster for content creators to make Android programs for Motorola's smartphones.
Palm WebOS Update Restores iTunes Connectivity
The 1.1 version of webOS restores the Pre's compatibility with Apple's media software and also adds improved business features.
Extra, Extra: Wall Street Uses Technology to Make Money
The New York Times today unmasked what it calls "high frequency trading" in a page-one story that paints a picture of big Wall Street firms taking unfair advantage with the aid of technology. The story is really about complex event processing, or CEP technology, something that has been operating behind the scenes on Wall Street for years.
Was Microsoft's Open Source Hand Forced?
The saga of Microsoft's contributions to the kernel just took another curious step. A key engineer with open source network-infrastructure company Vyatta indicated that Microsoft had no choice but to post the drivers as GPL. The implication is that they wouldn't have if no one had pointed it out to them.
Microsoft Shares Plunge On Windows Decline
Software maker says sales of its key operating system franchise were off almost 30% last quarter.
Oracle To Buy Data Integration Vendor GoldenGate
Oracle plans to use GoldenGate's technology to enable it to add real-time data-management integration capabilities into its offerings.
Oracle Buys GoldenGate: Should Customers Be Concerned?
Another independent gets taken over by the big boys. That's the good-for-Oracle, possibly bad-for-the-industry news today with Oracle's acquisition of GoldenGate Software, the San Francisco-based data integration, replication and synchronization vendor. Just what will become of GoldenGate's many technology-agnostic tools and industry partnerships?
Apple Lowers Price Of Next-Gen Final Cut
The company also upgraded its Logic Studio audio production suite with more than 200 added features.
EMC's 2Q Revenue Up, Profits Down
Along with earnings, the company also disclosed more information about its $2.1 billion acquisition of deduplication specialist Data Domain.
Windows 7 Finished, Ballmer Signs Off
The operating system is now complete and ready for shipping to PC manufacturers.
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The State of Cloud Computing - Fall 2020
Download this report to compare how cloud usage and spending patterns have changed in 2020, and how respondents think they'll evolve over the next two years.
2021 Top Enterprise IT TrendsWe've identified the key trends that are poised to impact the IT landscape in 2021. Find out why they're important and how they will affect you.
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