Profile of Michael Singer
News & Commentary Posts: 159
Articles by Michael Singer
6/8/2009
UQ estimates its service will be available to more than 90% of the Japanese population by the end of 2012.
6/8/2009
Added to the Web browser are Web standards like HTML 5, advanced CSS Effects, and enhancements that help JavaScript code run faster.
6/2/2009
At TwitterCon, most panelists admitted they were trying to find ways to increase brand equity despite not being able to fully rely on Twitter's servers.
5/29/2009
If you think how you look is the only issue to worry about during a video conference call, you haven't even scratched the surface. Here are seven common mistakes to avoid.
5/7/2009
Little known fact: Apple and Microsoft were both started without venture capital and both started in a recession. So what's your fledgling company need to do to navigate the current economic climate?
4/22/2009
Venture capital funding may have dropped overall in the first quarter of this year, but not all sectors suffered as seen by the multimillion dollar deals granted to the likes of Meru, Beceem, Stokes, Lavante, iScience, and Ausra.
4/22/2009
Mark Shuttleworth says he's pleased with "Jaunty Jackalope" but is really excited about how his operating system has become a catalyst for IT services and other market changes.
4/22/2009
I can shred to "Detroit Rock City" and my cowbell is perfect on "Don't Fear The Reaper," but soon I'll have to learn new licks -- make that bricks -- now that Lego's getting onstage too.
4/21/2009
The 9.04 edition of Canonical's Linux distro for desktops and servers dovetails with cloud computing inside the firewall and on Amazon's EC2.
4/15/2009
Second and third rounds of financing for startups often come at critical times, as three different IT software firms found out this week.
4/14/2009
Despite the recession, venture firms with solid track records continue to secure sizable commitments, two industry groups find.
4/10/2009
It sounds counterintuitive, but you're better off investing in your idea, building your social network, and attracting potential customers than spending hours refining how a plan looks on paper.
4/8/2009
Google's loss is Accel Partners' gain as Sukhinder Singh Cassidy has joined the venture capital firm as its new CEO-in-Residence. Does the position include access to a world-class cafeteria?
4/7/2009
Several Silicon Valley startups are celebrating fresh infusions of cash this week as the venture capital economy may be showing signs of a comeback.
4/1/2009
When it comes to pressure, Launch Pad is not for the squeamish. You have to be willing to expose your company's soft underside in 5 minutes. So, who are this year's chosen five at Web 2.0?
3/31/2009
The startup matches like-minded people in its review community to zero in on what's most interesting and helpful.
3/31/2009
Similar to Apple's App Store, eBay hopes to entice third-party developers with a slice of the revenue from its Selling Manager Application.
1/28/2009
Love him or hate him, the man behind TechCrunch is a force to be reckoned with. But did he deserve a real spit in the face? I should hope not.
12/30/2008
With Steve Jobs passing on the January classic and Apple pulling out altogether after next year, the brain trust at IDG is hosting a town hall meeting of Macintosh faithful for suggestions. Is there wisdom in the collective?
12/28/2008
Consumers can find great deals on the 8-GB version of the smartphone, but only at a handful of retailers.
12/24/2008
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales is asking for donations to the nonprofit site. But with more than 150,000 volunteers at his disposal, the question remains: Is it in trouble of folding?
12/22/2008
XML and SOA software provider Vordel's partnership with the PC maker's Industrial Solutions Group is the latest way the company is extending its reach.
12/1/2008
To help entice businesses to at least try out its cloud computing-integrated database service, Amazon is offering a free tier of usage for the next six months.
11/19/2008
Give Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer a microphone and in no time, you're bound to get a couple of great zingers out of him. At a shareholder meeting this week, he did not disappoint.
11/7/2008
LimeWire is adapting its model to show how P2P is still a legitimate business investment. But is adding social networking and becoming more feature rich the right fix?
11/6/2008
America voted for change this year in the face of huge risk and uncertainty. And though technology wasn't a major theme of the 2008 presidential race, there are lessons for today's IT leaders that we saw on the political stage.
11/4/2008
How do you transform a Web 1.0 company into a more powerful force in the Web 2.0 gene pool? Why, change the rules. That's what CEO Chris Alden and his team at Six Apart are planning for these days.
11/3/2008
As social networks go, LinkedIn is not as flashy as MySpace or as "vox populi" as Facebook, but it gets the job done, especially for those of us in the real working world with a handful of new add-ons ready to download.
10/14/2008
The new facility will focus primarily on information analytics, Web-delivered service computing, cloud computing, and stream computing.
9/30/2008
If you own a small business, it could feel like the whole world is closing in around you. And yet, SMBs have some of the best options out there, according to consultant and financial software developer Rusty Luhring.
9/25/2008
A system-wide outage of Twitter on Thursday got people's blood boiling, but raises another round of questions about the Web 2.0's effectiveness in the enterprise.
9/11/2008
Think your DBA job pays well? Not as good as some database administrators, according to a research study sponsored by Ntirety and produced by Unisphere Research. One hint: it's all about location, location, location.
9/9/2008
The IT firm aims itself at the middle tier of the market with an aggressive acquisition schedule including NetworkD and Arbyte.
8/29/2008
I'm getting lots of questions about whether Twitter and other microblogging sites can and should be used in the enterprise, to which I say, "Can you afford not to?"
8/11/2008
"Nowhere am I so desperately needed as among a shipload of illogical humans." --Spock in "I, Mudd." The same can be said of the search engine market these days, which is why Jay Bhatti, co-founder of Spock, loves his company's business model.
8/5/2008
Despite their common Linux underpinnings, need to satisfy vendors' budgets, and impress consumers, the two sides are approaching wireless apps very differently.
7/10/2008
It's a mashup of two Web 2.0 companies with similar goals (user-generated content), so how will they complement each other? That depends on how you use it.
6/30/2008
I hate to be an alarmist, but Californians have less than 24 hours to change their driving habits... that is if you like to talk on your cell phone behind the wheel.
6/19/2008
Matt Cohler, one of the first five employees at Facebook, is shifting gears and adding his talents to the venture capital community, which begs the question: Will he turn around and help line Zuckerberg's nest with cash?
6/12/2008
Apparently, Microsoft employees love their pay but aren't too wild about boss Ballmer. Likewise, Yahoo seems like a great place to work, but Jerry has lost his "mojo." These and more salacious tidbits can be found on new social slam book site Glassdoor.com. Thankfully, there is an enterprise lesson to be learned here.
6/9/2008
Sun Microsystems' fifth employee has left the company to join his friends at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and research green technology. It's a bittersweet day.
5/21/2008
BlackBerry and iPhone owners, listen up. We heard your requests and we're here to tell you that InformationWeek.com for mobile devices is ready for you now at mobile.informationweek.com.
5/8/2008
What do future generations think about the state of Java and its relevance to their research? The answer may surprise you, and Sun.
5/2/2008
So Neil Young is apparently going to perform at JavaOne next week, where he's expected to belt out his Keep on Rockin' in the Free World anthem. Hey, hey. My, my. Will the encore be Needle and the Damage Done?
5/1/2008
AMD, IBM, Intel, HP, Nvidia, and Sun join forces on Pervasive Parallelism Lab to extol the advances of multicore and multithreaded processors.
4/30/2008
The handset maker's API will let developers combine the clean user interface of Flash Lite with the stronger back-end capabilities of Java ME.
4/29/2008
The hardware includes an advanced network software utility that allows designers working in 2-D or 3-D environments to work over a standard network.
4/29/2008
By combining the features, Google said users can now get a better picture of their route alongside turn by turn information.
4/25/2008
Sometimes you just need to change the rules to stay on message. So when a panel of affiliate marketing experts and consultants convened Tuesday to discuss their industry and how it can evolve and mesh with Web 2.0 ideas, we had to know more.
4/24/2008
Mozilla chairman Mitchell Baker wants developers to bring the same features and functionality to handheld devices that they have to the PC.
4/24/2008
The company boasts more than 1,000 approved applications in a selection of categories ranging from music, politics and causes, quizzes and polls, and video.
4/24/2008
The software is initially downloadable for BlackBerry phones and is scheduled to roll out on future Helio devices.
4/23/2008
The company will use open standards like Atom, JSON, POX, RSS, HTTP, REST, and FeedSync to allow for the "it just works experience."
4/21/2008
Some of the companies adopting social networking, RSS, blogs, wikis, mashups, podcasting, and widgets will be presenting at the Web 2.0 Expo show this week.
4/14/2008
Marc Andreessen, Max Levchin, Jonathan Schwartz, Yahoo's CTO, the chief architect for Al Gore's Current TV, and The Fake Steve Jobs will be there. What about you?
4/1/2008
The "stochastic optimization" prototype helps solve disaster event scenarios by using similar methods found in supply chain best practices.
3/25/2008
My neighbor is building an addition to his house. Lots of details. Lots of draft work. His contractor and architect use the time-honored methods. It looks painful. But it doesn't have to be.
3/13/2008
Mark your calendars for the annual developer conference in San Francisco, but expect more than just the iPhone SDK on the agenda.
3/12/2008
I've been beta testing Hulu.com, the NBC Universal - News Corp. collaboration that puts TV shows and some movies online. At first blush ... it's very entertaining and there are some enterprise possibilities, but why does it have to be so much like TV?
3/6/2008
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers puts its money behind iPhone and iPod touch development to coincide with Apple's attack on BlackBerry.
2/29/2008
Forget the old business models of enterprise software and services, Vivendi's video games branch just posted one of its best margins ever, all thanks to a bunch of druids, goblins, orcs, elves, and fairies.
2/28/2008
The software collects contacts, appointments, music, and documents online and makes it available on PCs, PDAs, and smartphones.
2/21/2008
Propel's PBM release helps shape a PC's Internet activity and gives higher priority to more time-sensitive traffic such as VoIP and gaming.
2/14/2008
I'm usually a sucker for romance, especially during this time of year, which is why when I got off the train this morning and was greeted by a red rose from Engage.com, I had to stop and find out more.
2/11/2008
Rick Mace has taken three different startups through various stages of funding. By taking the reins at PacketExchange and a new infusion of cash, he's hoping to catch the eye of content providers and companies that want to bypass the public Internet.
1/22/2008
Microsoft added more than 30 companies to its Startup Accelerator Program this week. Which is kind of like the Federal Reserve's three-quarters of a percent cut in a key interest rates Tuesday ... some might think it's too little too late.
1/17/2008
The foundation announces three new philanthropic initiatives designed to combat climate change, poverty, and diseases as an add-on to two other ventures.
12/31/2007
As of Jan. 7, Steve Souders says he is trading in his Yahoo hat for a Google one. It's a boon for Google, but is it a bust for Yahoo? And, did anyone not see this coming?
12/20/2007
Alas, poor Nick Ciarelli, I knew him Horatio. A fellow of Infinite Loop, a most excellent Apple fan boy. He hath borne me on his back a thousand times; and now how abhorred in my imagination it is! Still... good luck with that pile of cash from Apple, buddy.
12/12/2007
The world of Web 2.0 can turn on a dime. And the horse you rode into this business may not always be the one you finish the race with. Just ask the pioneers behind Journalspace and Reezle, who had to adapt to the fast and fickle world of social networks or face extinction.
12/6/2007
At first, I was excited by this announcement since I use Gmail, but I can see some definite disadvantages here for fans of AOL, iChat, and Trillian ... or if you like downtime, since you might not get any.
11/29/2007
Google is taking a page from the credit card companies by incorporating an airline miles reward program as part of Google Checkout this month.
11/29/2007
When you get CEO Hector Ruiz to fly into India to open up a new engineering facility, you know AMD is getting serious about 45nm quad-core chips.
11/26/2007
The January classic will be bigger than ever and more comprehensive than in years past. But unless Apple makes an announcement, don't expect to get insider scoop on how to hack an iPhone at Macworld 2008.
11/14/2007
The startup's premium service offering, dubbed dDN Enterprise, is targeted at large-scale "early adopter" and "innovator" companies.
11/9/2007
The company hopes to extend the life of older corporate desktops with two versions of Windows XP by revising its Authorized Refurbisher program.
11/7/2007
So media mogul Barry Diller is planning to split his IAC empire into five public companies, eh? But the conglomerate that includes Home Shopping Network, Ticketmaster, and search engine Ask.com is already successful as a collective. Why break up the band? What does Barry know that we don't?
10/31/2007
If Microsoft wants to even catch a sliver of iPod's market share, it's going to have to build up its base of third-party accessories for its Zune music player... Oh, wait. That's just what they did this week.
10/16/2007
The company's unified communication launch includes a conferencing phone with a 360-degree camera.
10/16/2007
Microsoft's "multi-year, multi-dimensional" drive to link voice, video, and data is expected to compete with similar products from Cisco Systems and Avaya.
10/16/2007
Microsoft is urging businesses to combine voice, video, and data communications with its Office Communication Server and Exchange products as the base.
10/12/2007
It'll be an interesting gathering of the tribes next week as major players in the technology and entertainment industry are expected to unveil their latest products and services at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco.
10/10/2007
Red Hat CEO Matthew Szulik is not known for avoiding conflicts that threaten his company. So how much longer will it be before he unleashes his legal team to defend against Microsoft's patent accusations in the same way he railed against SCO Group's copyright claims?
9/26/2007
The company debuts its service by showing how the telephony software can integrate iPhone and VoIP with Facebook social network subscriber sites.
9/20/2007
From slow rollout to complete overhaul, the common thread seems to be a healthy review and evaluation stage long before a commitment is made.
9/18/2007
Laptop makers Lenovo, Acer, Asus, Panasonic, and Toshiba are all signed up for Intel's upcoming 25-watt Montevina mobile platform.
9/18/2007
The company is quickly shifting to 45-nm and 32-nm production techniques to allow for smaller computers that use less power.
9/13/2007
The Winamp player is celebrating 10 years of existence next month with an Anniversary Edition player so it can build on its 60 million monthly active unique user empire. Take that, iTunes!
9/12/2007
Sun touts the proposed purchase of Cluster File Systems' assets as a victory for its large-scale cluster computing and storage initiatives.
9/11/2007
AMD's quad-core launch and renewed commitment caps off a five-year relationship with the company behind the "Star Wars" franchise.
9/10/2007
CEO Hector Ruiz touts performance-per-watt as the new gage of success in server processors.
9/6/2007
The chipmaker said it had been working with various open source groups to enhance the compatibility for its ATI Radeon graphics chips for consumer Linux users.
9/6/2007
Linspire Chairman Michael Robertson's latest venture, Ajax13, unveils ajaxWindows, a Web-based middleware platform that stores all desktop data in a user's Gmail account.
9/5/2007
The chipmaker revealed six migration-friendly processors with Caneland chipsets designed to help companies build out their virtualization and server consolidation plans.
8/21/2007
The world of VoIP, video, and instant messaging is traveling at such a speed that your request to evaluate competing products may be obsolete by the time you finish reading this sentence.
8/21/2007
At VoiceCon, the company announced its new Integrated Communications Package, which lets employees push incoming office calls to a mobile phone or voice mail.
8/21/2007
Black & Decker is planning on expanding its Avaya IP telephony infrastructure overseas after success in migrating its communications infrastructure.
8/21/2007
At the VoiceCon show this week, new Internet telephony players like Microsoft may upset the competitive equilibrium, according to one analyst.
8/14/2007
It's easy if you try... Now Lennon and Beatles fans can wake up from their Number 9 Dream and sing out in unison: "All we are saying... is do you take checks or cash?"
8/13/2007
If you're going to San Francisco -- as the song goes -- be sure to wear some flowers in your hair. But you may also want to bring your appetite for enterprise-class IP telephony and software that converges all of those communication devices. Yes, it's VoiceCon time again.