Commission unveils plans to 'green' ICT | EU - European Information on InfoSociety

EurActiv.com - Commission unveils plans to 'green' ICT | EU - European Information on InfoSociety: "The report, called 'Smart 2020', was carried out in conjunction with consulting firm McKinsey by the 'Climate Group', which features top ICT companies such as Cisco, Vodafone, Nokia, Microsoft and Intel.

Thanks to the widespread use of smart applications, the ICT sector could provide a 15% cut in CO2 emissions by 2020, with an overall savings for the economy of 600 billion euro, the study estimates. Intelligent logistics systems could massively boost the efficiency of transport and storage, it continues, predicting energy savings worth 280 billion euro in Europe alone.

The report claims that smarter designs and more automation have the potential to cut emissions from buildings by 15% in the US, while improving India's electricity grid could reduce energy loss by 30%."

Creativity Ambassador: Europe needs someone to take it seriously | EU - European Information on Innovation & Creativity

EurActiv.com - Creativity Ambassador: Europe needs someone to take it seriously | EU - European Information on Innovation & Creativity: "What are the main hurdles to unlocking creativity and innovation in Europe?

There needs to be someone who takes it seriously. I think businesses ought to take creativity as seriously as they take finance and legal affairs. We need someone in every organisation who is directly responsible for creativity and new ideas, who organises training and puts together lists of new thinking, who listens to new ideas, who transmits them and stands behind them."

RP trade profile continues shift toward services - Business - Official Website of GMA News and Public Affairs - Latest Philippine News - BETA

GMANews.TV - RP trade profile continues shift toward services - Business - Official Website of GMA News and Public Affairs - Latest Philippine News - BETA: "Services emerged as the Philippines’ biggest export winner last year, growing by a third to nearly $8 billion, while traditional dollar-earners like electronics, clothing, and automotive products have either slowed down or contracted, data from the World Trade Organization (WTO) showed.

The latest WTO statistics showed that the Philippines is the world’s No. 48 exporter of merchandise goods, with $50.5 billion worth of exports last year, up by 6% and equivalent to about half a percent of the global market."

EurActiv.com - How Europe could leapfrog the US in productivity | EU - European Information on Innovation & Creativity

EurActiv.com - How Europe could leapfrog the US in productivity | EU - European Information on Innovation & Creativity: "Atkinson believes Europe can boost its productivity through more widespread use of ICT. To achieve this, ICT will have to be put 'at the centre of its economic policies for trade, technology, competition, the labour market and regulation,' he says."

E-Commerce News: E-Commerce: Survey: Customers Give E-Tailers Low Service Marks

E-commerce has certainly not been immune from the recession battering the U.S. economy, but for reasons that can only be guessed at, most of the leading e-tailers have not stepped up their efforts to retain customers by providing improved service, according to a recent customer satisfaction survey.

Only two e-retailers scored above 80 on a 100-point scale in the annual Top 40 Online Retail Satisfaction Index: Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) Latest News about Amazon.com and Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) Latest News about Netflix, both with 84. The survey's methodology is based on the University of Michigan's American Customer Satisfaction Index, in which a score of 80 is generally considered the threshold for excellence.

The achievement of the two e-tailers that ranked above 80 is muted by the fact that one of them, Netflix, cannot be considered a traditional e-tailer, said Larry Freed, president and CEO of ForeSee Results, which conducted the survey.

E-Commerce News: E-Commerce: Survey: Customers Give E-Tailers Low Service Marks

CDS Central Clearing Platforms Approved by Regulators

Regulators approved in late December a proposal from NYSE Euronext Liffe and a separate proposal from CME Group and Citadel Investment Group to provide centralized clearing of credit default swaps, setting the stage for competition between the clearing solutions.

The approvals follow a tumultuous year in the financial markets that saw the collapses of Bear Stearns in March and Lehman Brothers in September, which raised fears over global systemic risk in the credit derivatives markets fueled by counterparty exposure. Regulators pressed the industry to set up a centralized clearing facility for CDSs to mitigate counterparty risk, setting a deadline of Dec. 31, 2008.

CDS Central Clearing Platforms Approved by Regulators

Top-Paying IT Jobs: The Six-Figure Edition - Salaries

A few positions at large firms (with gross revenues of $500 million or more)—including VP of information services, director of systems and programming, and data warehouse manager—saw pay bumps well beyond the norm between June 2007 and June 2008. Four IT titles—VP of consulting services, systems project manager, software engineer and systems programmer—saw percentage-point decreases in the double digits. Smaller firms (with gross revenues below $500 million) saw less of a drop-off in salary. The median salaries cited in this article are those in the top quartile for each job title listed, as determined by Janco.

Top-Paying IT Jobs: The Six-Figure Edition - Salaries

Act 221 has been successful - Tech View - Starbulletin.com

In 2001, sensing a missed opportunity, the legislation commonly known as Act 221 was passed with the idea of stimulating the growth of the local technology community.The results have been very positive and point toward success in expanding Hawaii's economic base.

Act 221 has been successful - Tech View - Starbulletin.com

Cyber Espionage Targets Sensitive Data

Cyber espionage blasted on the scene in the mid 90s and has grown at a steady pace along side the adoption and use of the Internet by business, government and industry. Even though cyber espionage is relatively new, countries like China have already invested in building large and well trained cyber-espionage forces. By the beginning of 2009, Spy-Ops estimates about 140 countries and over 50 terrorist and criminal/extremist groups will be developing cyber weapons and espionage capabilities.

Cyber Espionage Targets Sensitive Data

सो बंद हे वास गुड?

Only 21 days to go before another Bush president hits the dustbin of history.

Government, U.S. Firms Collaborate on Lithium Battery - Latest News

Aiming to mass-produce a lithium battery for vehicles, 14 U.S. companies with expertise in batteries and advanced materials have formed an alliance with a government laboratory, the lab said on Thursday.

The alliance, which includes battery industry giants such as 3M Co and Johnson Controls-Saft, intends to secure $1 billion to $2 billion in U.S. government funding over the next five years to build a manufacturing facility with an "open foundry" for the participants to pursue the goal of perfecting lithium-ion batteries for cars.

Government, U.S. Firms Collaborate on Lithium Battery - Latest News

Challenging IT Assumptions - Trends

Prior to the credit crisis, around 75 cents of each dollar was spent to keeping existing systems up and operational. Now, overlay the reductions due to the recession, and the result is that a lot of business needs are chasing very few discretionary dollars.The future of IT depends on a bigger idea—one that incorporates key trends, such as easier-to-use technology, potentially more savvy business partners and extended organizational ecosystems. More importantly, it’s an idea that addresses the perennial IT challenge of how to satisfy the seemingly infinite demand with limited capacity.

Challenging IT Assumptions - Trends

Five Ways Generation Y May Reinvent IT - IT Management

They've been called everything from narcissists to "Generation Me," but those wily post-Gen X employees might just show their elders how to revamp an enterprise.

They depend too much on their parents' money, they need constant hand-holding, they have no job loyalty, but do show remarkable acumen for demanding more than they're worth, showing disrespect for older employees, and displaying stunning naiveté about corporate culture.

Five Ways Generation Y May Reinvent IT - IT Management

How Google Works - Projects Management

Google is more than just a leading search firm. It's a pioneer that may be defining information management for the next generation of Web-centric businesses.

Google's information management approach, which often goes unnoticed, is both highly effective and efficient. And may be the way other organizations deploy technology in the future.Here's why:Story Guide:# Google's Extreme Infrastructure# What Other CIOs Can Learn from Google# Google's Beginnings# Why Parallel Processing Makes Sense# Behind The Google File System# How Google Reduces Complexity# Google's Secret Arsenal# Would Google's File System Work for You?# Inside Google's EnterpriseAlso in this Feature:# Google Basics# The People Who Power Google# Google Courts the Enterprise# How Google Manages a Global Workforce

How Google Works - Projects Management

How to Ensure a Successful VOIP System Implementation

Traditional telephone services have typically gained a reputation of providing excellent voice quality and superior reliability. Consequently, users take for granted that their phone systems will provide high quality with virtually no downtime. Yet many voice over IP (VOIP) installations fail to meet these expectations, primarily because organizations have not adequately evaluated their network infrastructure to determine whether it can adequately support applications that are very sensitive to latency, packet loss, jitter and other similar performance factors.

VOIP requires a steady, predictable packet delivery rate in order to maintain quality. Jitter, which is variation in packet delivery timing, is the most common culprit that reduces call quality in VOIP systems. Jitter causes the audio stream to become broken, uneven or irregular. As a result, the listener’s experience becomes unpleasant or intolerable.

The end results of packet loss are similar to those of jitter but are typically more severe when the rate of packet loss is high. Excessive latency can result in unnatural conversation flow where there is a delay between words that one speaks versus words that one hears. Latency can cause callers to talk over one another and can also result in echoes on the line. Hence, jitter, packet loss and latency can have dramatic consequences in maintaining normal and expected call quality.

How to Ensure a Successful VOIP System Implementation

Uncertainty grips sectors, says Ficci

A state of uncertainty is gripping over many services sectors, including financial services, software, outsourcing, civil aviation and real estate, due to the global financial crisis, credit crunch and higher interest rates during the recent months, according to a survey by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci).

The feedback gathered from industry shows that while during the first half of current fiscal (April-Sept 2008) there was moderation in the growth of several segments of the services sector, from October 2008 onwards a marked deterioration in performance was seen in many areas.

Uncertainty grips sectors, says Ficci

Biz-Tech 3.0 - IT Strategy - What is IT Transformation, Really?

Roberts looks at IT transformation as a shift from being reactive, order-taker cultures to driving business growth and improvement. A key part of that, he says, is positioning your IT shop as the "internal consultant of choice," versus whatever consulting/advisory services are out there in the marketplace.

But it's easier said than done. On top of the communication issue, there's another problem that Roberts, among others, have emphasized to me lately: "CIOs and IT leaders easily revert to their technical comfort zone," Roberts says. "You have to think about it as looking from the outside in. People in IT work their tails off trying to hit the bulls-eye on customer value, business value, and being more strategic. They're hitting the bulls-eye every time, but it's their bulls-eye, not their clients' bulls-eye."

Biz-Tech 3.0 - IT Strategy - What is IT Transformation, Really?

Why Big Businesses Are Turning to VoIP

A recent VendorGuru.com article, Seven Reasons VoIP Business Service Is Ideally Suited for Big Business, highlights the benefits. For companies with a high volume of calls, VoIP phone systems help cut expenses and add to the bottom line as savings are linked to every call made. Also, for businesses with multi-site operations, communications costs can quickly increase along with the number of calls made to other office sties, with a VoIP phone system these costs can be eliminated since all calls made are made on one network, reducing costs, regardless of where the office is physically located.

Why Big Businesses Are Turning to VoIP

Paul Krugman's depression economics - How the World Works - Salon.com

The words "depression economics" don't necessarily mean that we are in a depression or inevitably headed toward one. A more accurate definition would be that we are witnessing economic problems reminiscent of the Great Depression, long after many economists concluded that the question of how to avoid depressions had been permanently solved. Not true, says Krugman. If we don't watch out, we could steer the current recession right into depression territory.

Paul Krugman's depression economics - How the World Works - Salon.com

In Transition | FCC - washingtonpost.com

In 2008, the FCC budget was $313 million, up 7 percent from $293 million in 2005.

Under Obama: New rules would prevent communications operators from slowing, blocking or discriminating against certain Internet content over their networks. The rules, known by the term "net neutrality," have been strongly opposed in recent years by cable and telephone giants, though some have softened their stance over the past year. The president-elect has also pushed for more broadband access in rural and other underserved areas, which he said would help generate more jobs to build wireless, cable, fiber and other networks.

In Transition | FCC - washingtonpost.com

Mike Musgrove - PS3's Virtual Home Is Inhospitable - washingtonpost.com

It's possible to never spend a dime in Home, which is a free download, but Sony is hoping that users will be willing to part with a little money to spruce up their characters. The default offerings in your virtual closet are a little boring, you see, but the nearby mall allows you to spiff up your wardrobe with selections generally priced at a dollar or less. You can even spend a few bucks and buy a vacation home in Home, if the default studio apartment that you're allotted isn't stylish enough for you.

Mike Musgrove - PS3's Virtual Home Is Inhospitable - washingtonpost.com

American Collapse

I support Obama's infrastructure initiative wholeheartedly, but with two cautionary notes. First, a general one: Don't shortchange long-range planning and restructuring in the short-term interest of creating jobs by giving top priority to projects that are "shovel-ready." American leaders recognize the need to alter how this country uses energy; they may be less clear that this need should inspire them to fundamentally rethink American land use patterns and reconsider which patterns the government should discourage and which it should support. (To give one obvious example, higher density settlements reduce the need for frequent long-distance travel and thereby facilitate more efficient mass transit.) Second, a specific one with far-reaching ramifications: Don't ignore the gross inefficiency of the American construction industry on which many of these infrastructural initiatives will depend. (Studies estimate that somewhere between 50 and 70 percent of the total time spent on the average American construction site is wasted.) Use our New New Deal to push that problem-rife industry toward long-overdue restructuring, which should be no less dramatic--and enormously more economically significant--than the one that everyone recognizes the comparatively small and comparatively efficient auto industry needs. For a devastating diagnosis, Barry B. LePatner's Broken Buildings, Busted Budgets: How to Fix America's Trillion-Dollar Construction Industry is a good place to start, and it must be a start, as this critical problem plaguing such a large percentage of our economy is not even on the public's or policymakers' radar screens.

American Collapse

IT Has Great Green Expectations for Obama - Commentary

In the IT channel, people will be watching how new administration policies will affect their business. Despite some trepidation about potential new regulations on taxation and workers' unions, there is a great deal of hope regarding the Obama administration's green efforts.

Those efforts might translate to higher sales of power-conserving technology, more efficient processors and applications and increased demand for server consolidation and virtualization. Incentives for telecommuting, already in place in several states, are likely to become more prevalent, creating yet another opportunity for the channel.

IT Has Great Green Expectations for Obama - Commentary

For Stimulus Plan, Obama Team Weighing 'Green' Jobs vs. Traditional Projects - washingtonpost.com

The debate has centered on two competing principles in the evolving plan: the desire to spend money on what President-elect Barack Obama calls "shovel-ready projects," such as highway and bridge construction, vs. spending on more environmentally conscious projects, such as grids for wind and solar power.

For Stimulus Plan, Obama Team Weighing 'Green' Jobs vs. Traditional Projects - washingtonpost.com

Wall Street Bailout Spawns Subsidy Database

Pew has engaged the Sunlight Foundation, a government transparency group, to construct the technical infrastructure, compiling data and building Subsidyscope's database. Among Sunlight's other projects are PublicMarkup.org, which seeks to open legislation to online and public review; Earmark Watch, an open review of Washington spending; and OpenCongress, a government transparency effort with news and blogging about Capitol Hill.

"This project represents an exciting opportunity to shine a light on various ways that increasingly scarce federal resources are being spent," Ellen Miller, co-founder and executive director of the Sunlight Foundation, said in a statement. "While we don't know precisely what the project will find, as Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis famously said, 'Sunlight is the best disinfectant.'"

Wall Street Bailout Spawns Subsidy Database

OpenDocument Format Alliance :: Governments Increasingly Turn to OpenDocument Format as ODF Alliance Marks Unprecedented 2008

"We congratulate these governments for recognizing what ODF can do to transform e-government."

Looking ahead to 2009, the power of the public purse is expected to further advance the use of open standards like ODF among governments. "Open standards-based procurement initiatives in the European Union, the Netherlands, and elsewhere, promise to speed ODF's uptake in the public sector," noted Graham Taylor, Chief Executive of OpenForum Europe, which coordinates Alliance activities in the European region.

OpenDocument Format Alliance :: Governments Increasingly Turn to OpenDocument Format as ODF Alliance Marks Unprecedented 2008

After the Crash: How Software Models Doomed the Markets: Scientific American

The software models in question estimate the level of financial risk of a portfolio for a set period at a certain confidence level. As Benoit Mandelbrot, the fractal pioneer who is a longtime critic of mainstream financial theory, wrote in Scientific American in 1999, established modeling techniques presume falsely that radically large market shifts are unlikely and that all price changes are statistically independent; today’s fluctuations have nothing to do with tomorrow’s—and one bank’s portfolio is unrelated to the next’s. Here is where reality and rocket science diverge. Try Googling “financial meltdown,” “contagion” and “2008,” a search that reveals just how wrongheaded these assumptions were.

After the Crash: How Software Models Doomed the Markets: Scientific American

Clinton Moves to Widen Role of State Dept. - NYTimes.com

As Mrs. Clinton puts together her senior team, officials said, she is also trying to carve out a bigger role for the State Department in economic affairs, where the Treasury has dominated during the Bush years. She has sought advice from Laura D’Andrea Tyson, an economist who headed Mr. Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisers.

Clinton Moves to Widen Role of State Dept. - NYTimes.com

Demand for quants still strong, but... - FierceFinance

No one thinks that Wall Street is done with the quantitative approach. If anything, there's a new quest underway for better algorithms. Here's how Andrew Lo, director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Laboratory for Financial Engineering, puts it: "It's an arms race where no one has an incentive to pull back on their own." It's interesting that more universities--such as Columbia--are already planning to tweak their curricula to help graduates understand the broader dimensions of their trade.

Demand for quants still strong, but... - FierceFinance

Financial meltdown slows wind power - Green Machines- msnbc.com

Doyle is paid just over $35,000 a month for the seven wind turbines in his soybean and corn fields. Those turbines and thousands others across the Midwest the past few years were part of an unprecedented build-out for the wind-power industry.

That expansion is now drastically slowing as financing dries up for many projects because of the global economic crisis. Companies that bankrolled much of the boom — the insurer AIG, now-bankrupt financial service company Lehman Brothers and Wachovia Corp. — are among the meltdown's biggest losers.

Financial meltdown slows wind power - Green Machines- msnbc.com

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Plan Calls for $44B in Broadband Spending

President-elect Barack Obama should spend $44 billion in broadband stimulus funds over the next three years as part of his immediate economic program, according to a new study from the media reform group Free Press. The proposed tax incentives and grant programs would not include projects previously planned by telecommunications companies.

Plan Calls for $44B in Broadband Spending

Alibaba Upbeat about Ecommerce in 2009

CEO David Wei said, "Our international marketplace attracted a record number of users, increasing 74% year-on-year, suggesting that traders worldwide are increasingly turning to the Internet as a new channel of e-commerce."

Alibaba Upbeat about Ecommerce in 2009

Taking Command - washingtonpost.com

We have a president-elect who has set out a pragmatic, nonpartisan, visionary course. It's time to lay to rest the old stereotypes about feckless, pacifist Democrats and authoritarian, war-mongering soldiers. If there were ever a time to get the relationship between Democrats and the military right, this is it.

Taking Command - washingtonpost.com

At Siemens, Bribery Was Just a Line Item - NYTimes.com

Mr. Siekaczek (pronounced SEE-kah-chek) says that from 2002 to 2006 he oversaw an annual bribery budget of about $40 million to $50 million at Siemens. Company managers and sales staff used the slush fund to cozy up to corrupt government officials worldwide.

The payments, he says, were vital to maintaining the competitiveness of Siemens overseas, particularly in his subsidiary, which sold telecommunications equipment. “It was about keeping the business unit alive and not jeopardizing thousands of jobs overnight,” he said in an interview.

At Siemens, Bribery Was Just a Line Item - NYTimes.com

The Reckoning - Bush’s Philosophy Stoked the Mortgage Bonfire - Series - NYTimes.com

The president listened as Ben S. Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, laid out the latest terrifying news: The credit markets, gripped by panic, had frozen overnight, and banks were refusing to lend money.Then his Treasury secretary, Henry M. Paulson Jr., told him that to stave off disaster, he would have to sign off on the biggest government bailout in history.Mr. Bush, according to several people in the room, paused for a single, stunned moment to take it all in.“How,” he wondered aloud, “did we get here?”

The Reckoning - Bush’s Philosophy Stoked the Mortgage Bonfire - Series - NYTimes.com

Obama’s First Trade Priority Is Helping Displaced U.S. Workers - Kiplinger.com

Barack Obama and the 111th Congress will move quickly to expand Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA), which provides help for workers displaced by trade agreements. It will most likely be included as part of a big economic stimulus plan that Democrats hope to pass in January. They'll enlarge TAA to cover service workers as well as manufacturing employees. In addition, they'll extend the benefits to those displaced by trade with countries that don't have free trade pacts with the U.S., such as China. And they'll beef up funding to states to pay for job training programs.

Obama’s First Trade Priority Is Helping Displaced U.S. Workers - Kiplinger.com

Obama Has One Chance to Get Infrastructure Spending Right | Autopia from Wired.com

# Train the workforce – Creating jobs through infrastructure spending is more difficult than simply handing out shovels. America 2050 calls for a methodical job training program to provide workers with the skills they need to do the job and make sure we get top-notch work out of them.

Obama Has One Chance to Get Infrastructure Spending Right | Autopia from Wired.com

Driving business innovation through collaboration | 17 Dec 2008 | ComputerWeekly.com

One posting on a ‘collaboration’ blog recently asked, ‘Given recent events, it's fair to say that IT managers everywhere are going to be asked, "OK, so what can you do to help us get through this downturn?" One of the suggestions was the use of open source collaboration solutions which offer a combination of cutting-edge capabilities and lower operating costs.

Collaboration has been described as the next phase of the Internet, and a $34 billion market opportunity. So this Executive overview of Innovate: Collaborate will examine the burgeoning relationship between innovation and collaboration and put key collaborative issues into context, such as the importance of ‘presence’ and whether unified communications can or should be delivered as a service.

Driving business innovation through collaboration | 17 Dec 2008 | ComputerWeekly.com

Why Has Google Demanded a "Fast Lane"? - Columns by PC Magazine

Google is asking for trouble. The search giant has suddenly begun to talk about the need for a fast lane for its offerings—opening a hornet's nest of debate regarding its motives. After all, Google has servers all over the planet sitting on world-class fiber, and we all know it's one of the most responsive sites online. So what's this baloney all about, really?

It's about Google maintaining its edge by having an advantage, not in perceived speed but in back-end speed. People moan and groan that this violates net neutrality principles. This isn't about net neutrality; it's about squashing the competition.

Most net-neutrality arguments are centered on the specious logic that someday an ISP will have its own search engine, and that it will choke off Google and others so much that people will have to use the ISP's search tool. "Everyone should have equal access," the populace screams.

Why Has Google Demanded a "Fast Lane"? - Columns by PC Magazine

Biz-Tech 3.0 - Obama and IT - Pushing Innovation: The Government's Job?

Put aside any negative feelings about more government bureaucracy or intervention into business and look at the reality of today. Obama is talking extensively about a new New Deal-like projects to revive the nation's infrastructure and stimulate the economy and job growth. With that, he's preached a new wave of innovation, and technology plays a huge role, as any CIO will tell you (and as evidenced by his successful use of collaboration, Web 2.0, etc. in his campaign).

Biz-Tech 3.0 - Obama and IT - Pushing Innovation: The Government's Job?

Biz-Tech 3.0 - Obama and IT - Pushing Innovation: The Government's Job?

Put aside any negative feelings about more government bureaucracy or intervention into business and look at the reality of today. Obama is talking extensively about a new New Deal-like projects to revive the nation's infrastructure and stimulate the economy and job growth. With that, he's preached a new wave of innovation, and technology plays a huge role, as any CIO will tell you (and as evidenced by his successful use of collaboration, Web 2.0, etc. in his campaign).

Biz-Tech 3.0 - Obama and IT - Pushing Innovation: The Government's Job?

Obama, Democratic Leaders Expanding Health Measures in Stimulus Package - washingtonpost.com

"We're going to be very busy here in Congress," he said in an interview. Baucus aims to begin marking up a stimulus bill the first week of January in hopes that it can be ready by Inauguration Day. He is pressing to include provisions that would steer money into health technology, such as adoption of electronic medical records, and reauthorization of the SCHIP program for two to three years.

"It's very important that health IT be part of the economic recovery," he said. "It represents the beginning of health-care reform."

During the campaign, Obama spoke of spending $50 billion on modernizing the health-care system by helping doctors and hospitals install and use computers. Sources involved in preparing the stimulus package said it might include $10 billion of that as a down payment."

Investing in the health of the American people is a crucial part of the nation's economic recovery," said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. "Modernizing our health-care system through better use of information technology is the key to easing the heavy burden of health-care costs."

Obama, Democratic Leaders Expanding Health Measures in Stimulus Package - washingtonpost.com

November video game sales near $3 billion - washingtonpost.com

U.S. retail sales of video game hardware, software and accessories jumped 10 percent last month from the year-ago period to $2.91 billion, boosted by strong sales of Nintendo Co.'s Wii, Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 and the alien shooter game "Gears of War 2."

November video game sales near $3 billion - washingtonpost.com

The IT Organization, Circa 2015 - Trends

The problem with the current culture of business operations, specifically when it comes to the role of the IT organization, is that best practices barely exist. Sure, plenty of IT organizations have built notable track records of success, but they’ve done so in unique ways, varying across businesses of different sizes, mindsets and industries.To find consensus on what the ever-changing—and downright thorny—role of IT organizations will be in the future is about as easy as agreeing on a college football champ. CIO Insight set out to do just that, and its efforts revealed the truly arduous challenges IT leaders face in adapting to the future needs of business.

The IT Organization, Circa 2015 - Trends

Obama`s IT Reality: Will It Be Change, or Just Hope? - IT Management

As is true for any organization, making good things happen with technology in government is primarily a management challenge, not a technological one. Technology investment must flow from a clearly articulated strategy, and technology must be deployed by and into organizational structures that are designed to make holistic decisions about it and to take full advantage of it.

Obama`s IT Reality: Will It Be Change, or Just Hope? - IT Management

Economies of Scale in the Spam Business - washingtonpost.com

"Barak Obama Is on the Verge of Death!"This header on a piece of pre-election spam had credibility problems (spelling the candidate's first name correctly might have helped), but it got people's attention. It was one of a slew of junk-mail blasts that used campaign-related topics to trick unwary readers into open­ing the message. This particular missive carried an image that, when clicked, jumped credulous recipients to an online pharmacy site.

Economies of Scale in the Spam Business - washingtonpost.com

How does Obama's broadband New Deal come to fruition? - FierceBroadbandWireless

Now the dirty work begins. How does this all come to fruition? How will the funds be doled out, what companies and technology will benefit and what strings will be attached in terms of regulations? Will it come in the form of support for nationwide operators or a nationwide licensee that would require the winning bidder to open up 25 percent of its network for free broadband access? (Earlier this week I got an email from M2Z PR folks with the subject line: "Obama Adopts M2Z Plan, Promises 100% Broadband Availability." M2Z has been pushing the FCC to adopt rules next week that would license a nationwide wireless broadband operator and set aside a portion for free broadband to the country's have-nots.)

How does Obama's broadband New Deal come to fruition? - FierceBroadbandWireless

The Bangalore Backlash: Call Centers Return to U.S. - washingtonpost.com

Catering to consumers put off by the accents of Bangalore, Manila and other call-center hubs around the globe, Dell will guarantee -- for a price -- that the person who picks up the phone on a support call will be, as company ads mention in bold text, "based in North America."

The Bangalore Backlash: Call Centers Return to U.S. - washingtonpost.com

How does Obama's broadband New Deal come to fruition? - FierceBroadbandWireless

Now the dirty work begins. How does this all come to fruition? How will the funds be doled out, what companies and technology will benefit and what strings will be attached in terms of regulations? Will it come in the form of support for nationwide operators or a nationwide licensee that would require the winning bidder to open up 25 percent of its network for free broadband access? (Earlier this week I got an email from M2Z PR folks with the subject line: "Obama Adopts M2Z Plan, Promises 100% Broadband Availability." M2Z has been pushing the FCC to adopt rules next week that would license a nationwide wireless broadband operator and set aside a portion for free broadband to the country's have-nots.)

How does Obama's broadband New Deal come to fruition? - FierceBroadbandWireless

We Need A National CIO, Not A CTO - Opinion

How many cybersecurity czars have we gone through since 9/11? I count at least three (Amit Yoran, Howard Schmidt, Greg Garcia and I’m sure there have been more) along with long gaps between selections. I think what happened was in the panic to develop national security there was an unwillingness to admit that a national security plan could take years and years to develop as competing agencies, privacy concerns and security processes needed to be considered. A national CTO could face the same difficulties.

We Need A National CIO, Not A CTO - Opinion

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Obama Calls for Broadband Initiative

Again pledging his commitment to technology, President-elect Barack Obama said Dec. 6 that investing heavily in computers and broadband connections for schools and hospitals will be part of his immediate economic recovery plans after he takes office Jan. 20.

Obama Calls for Broadband Initiative

Congressional report: FCC chair abused power | Politics and Law - CNET News

Over the course of his tenure, Martin manipulated and withheld information from the other FCC commissioners and from Congress, neglected his statutory responsibilities to produce certain information to Congress, and ignored evidence that certain national communications programs were being grossly mismanaged, according to the report issued by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, titled "Deception and Distrust: The Federal Communications Commission Under Chairman Kevin J. Martin." (PDF)

Congressional report: FCC chair abused power | Politics and Law - CNET News

Know It All - The Industry - IT Remains a Bright Spot in Gloomy Jobs Data

"Once again, IT employment rose in the face of otherwise horrible job numbers. Today's release of November statistics from the BLS shows a jump of 2.7% in computer systems design and related services. Management and technical consulting services, meanwhile, rose 1.7%."

Know It All - The Industry - IT Remains a Bright Spot in Gloomy Jobs Data

After the Crash: How Software Models Doomed the Markets: Scientific American

If Hollywood makes a movie about the worst financial crisis since the Great De­­pres­­sion, a basement room in a government building in Washington will serve as the setting for a key scene. There investment bankers from the largest institutions pleaded successfully with Securities and Ex­­change Commission (SEC) officials during a short meeting in 2004 to lift a rule specifying debt limits and capital reserves needed for a rainy day. This decision, a real event described in the New York Times, freed billions to invest in complex mortgage-backed securities and derivatives that helped to bring about the financial meltdown in September.In the script, the next scene will be the one in which number-savvy specialists that Wall Street has come to know as quants consult with their superiors about implementing the regulatory change. These lapsed physicists and mathematical virtuosos were the ones who both invented these oblique securities and created software models that supposedly measured the risk a firm would incur by holding them in its portfolio. Without the formal requirement to maintain debt ceilings and capital reserves, the commission had freed these firms to police themselves using risk tools crafted by cadres of quants.

After the Crash: How Software Models Doomed the Markets: Scientific American

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Panel urges Obama to consider hacker-response plan - washingtonpost.com

"Responding to a cyber attack is a tough issue," said James Lewis of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think-tank that organized the commission. "Do operators respond with law enforcement, espionage or military actions? The guidelines are really unclear. The rules designed in the 1980s are slow, and the Internet is fast."

Panel urges Obama to consider hacker-response plan - washingtonpost.com

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Obama Vows Broadband Expansion in Recovery Plan - 12/7/2008 6:11:00 PM - Broadcasting & Cable

"Most industry players concede that there needs to be greater stimulus for broadband rollout, but there are disagreements over how relevant the rankings are given that some of the leading countries are smaller and easier to wire. They also disagree on the best way to close the gap."

Obama Vows Broadband Expansion in Recovery Plan - 12/7/2008 6:11:00 PM - Broadcasting & Cable

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The Other Paul Volcker - washingtonpost.com

"Volcker is not just an expert in economic turnarounds, however. He is also the acknowledged elder statesman of public service reform. The son of a city manager from Teaneck, New Jersey Volcker was raised to believe that public service is a noble calling and followed through in what has been a classic "in-and-outer" career."

The Other Paul Volcker - washingtonpost.com

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Web 2.0 Security: 3 Key Questions - Security

Hoping to reduce its promotional costs and sell more slow-moving products, an online sports retailer added an inexpensive ad widget to its site, pushing the latest promotions to desktops based on the user’s browsing habits. Because they neglected the proper due diligence, the retailer didn’t discover that the provider of the ad widget also installed a key logger. Now when the unsuspecting user conducts transactions on any Web site, the key logger captures the user’s sensitive information, which is then sold in the underground market and exploited by crooks.

Web 2.0 Security: 3 Key Questions - Security

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Obama to Announce Choice of Richardson for Commerce Secretary - washingtonpost.com

"The job will add to an already lengthy Washington résumé for Richardson that includes stints as secretary of energy and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations during President Bill Clinton's administration, as well as nearly two decades as a congressman representing New Mexico. He left the nation's capital in 2002 to run for governor of New Mexico and was reelected with 69 percent of the vote four years later."

Obama to Announce Choice of Richardson for Commerce Secretary - washingtonpost.com

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Obama Names Innovation Team

"Assembling a team of telecom lawyers with deep roots at the FCC Federal Communications Commission, technology industry leaders, academics, financial experts and former government officials, President-elect Barack Obama named his technology, innovation and government policy reform working group Nov. 25."

Obama Names Innovation Team

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Free Web Plan Being Pushed by FCC Head - WSJ.com

"The free Internet plan is the most controversial issue the agency will tackle in December. Mr. Martin shelved plans to consider a wider variety of sticky issues pending at the agency, including a request by the Hollywood studios to hobble TVs and set-top boxes so studios can offer copy-protected theatrical releases sooner."

Free Web Plan Being Pushed by FCC Head - WSJ.com

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Gore: Don't Count On Magic | Newsweek Future Of Energy | Newsweek.com

We should tax what we burn, not what we earn.

Gore: Don't Count On Magic | Newsweek Future Of Energy | Newsweek.com

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Hawaiian Telcom files for bankruptcy protection - Forbes.com

Hawaiian Telcom postponed a $26 million interest payment in November and was in the midst of a 30-day grace period, which ended Monday. Hawaiian Telecom is carrying more than $1 billion in debt, the result of financing that was arranged three years ago for the company's $1.6 billion sale to Carlyle Group, a private-equity firm based in Washington, D.C.

Hawaiian Telcom files for bankruptcy protection - Forbes.com

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A Market-Oriented Economic Team - washingtonpost.com

President-elect Barack Obama is assembling a deeply experienced team of top economic advisers whose key members firmly believe that limited government spending combined with free markets can create lasting prosperity.

A Market-Oriented Economic Team - washingtonpost.com

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