Larry Dignan

Marketing What if Microsoft had created the iPod? Lets play the “what if” game and hand over the marketing of Apples iPod to Microsoft. What would happen can be summed up in one word: disaster. But to really get the feel for what would happen, watch a video on YouTube. (Search for “Microsoft iPod” on […]

Data Resellers Peddling Social Security numbers Just how hard is it to purchase a Social Security number? The Government Accountability Offices answer: Its not easy. The GAO found 154 Internet information sellers with SSN services. Many of these sites offered a range of data including date of birth, drivers license information and telephone records. According […]

President Bushs vision for space exploration calls for human and robotic missions to the Moon and Mars, not to mention other far-flung planets. The problem: NASA needs an improved space communications network, according to the General Accountability Office. In a report released May 22, the GAO noted that NASAs Deep Space Network—a series of antennas […]

Online fraud Gone phishing The best phishing apparently is abroad, according to a study by RSA Security. In its online fraud intelligence report for April, RSA found the majority of all the banks targeted by phishing were based outside the United States. In fact, 57 percent of phishing targets were international. Note that while more […]

The Department of Veterans Affairs said the personal information of up to 26.5 million veterans was swiped from an employees home. According to the VA, an employee took home electronic data containing the names, Social Security numbers and dates of birth for millions of veterans and some spouses, as well as some disability ratings. The […]

Money talks. Loyalty walks. And in a potential price war you need to open the door to a larger Advanced Micro Devices partnership. That sums up why Dell finally (and we mean finally) decided to use AMD for multiprocessor enterprise systems. Rest assured that this AMD deal will expand to the desktop. Why? Dell plans […]

Think immigration is a hot topic? Try automating all those paper files that the Department of Homeland Securitys U.S. Citizenship and Immigra-tion Services unit has to track. In total, the USCIS has to rely on about 55 million paper-based files to adjudicate applications for immigration status. Automating all those files is no small matter, says […]

Sun has been dithering for years on the question of making its Java software available under an open-source license. With the transition to new leadership under Jonathan Schwartz, we think now is a good time for Sun to take this long-contemplated step. In the days leading up to the JavaOne conference May 15, Sun executives […]

Service-oriented architecture is the next big thing for CIOs, Oracles back in favor, and Novell is showing slight gains in Linux. Vista, however, is on the outs, according to a Merrill Lynch survey. Merrill Lynch, which released the survey May 12, found that 47 percent of the 76 CIOs surveyed in April plan to increase […]

Vericenter chief technology officer Dave Colesante is a rare bird. Unlike many IT executives, Colesante has actually thought about a potential avian influenza virus, or bird flu, pandemic and reckons his company, which provides technology services, is relatively prepared if the virus becomes transmitted through human contact. After all, Colesantes 225-person support staff is used […]