Dow still on record roll as U.S. economy cools
... 65 percent surge in its fiscal third-quarter earnings amid strong sales of its new Windows Vista operating system and Office 2007 software suite. General Electric Co. was the second-best performer ...
TSA Loses Track of Data-Packed Drive
The Transportation Security Administration is attempting to provide some solace to current and former employees whose personal information is on a computer hard drive that was "discovered missing" late last week. The TSA said it will give the employees free credit monitoring for up to one year, ID theft insurance up to $25,000, fraud alerts and access to identity restoration specialists.
Chertoff: Summer Brings Increased Al Qaeda Threat
U.S. counterterror officials are warning of an increased risk of an attack this summer, given Al Qaeda's apparent interest in summertime strikes and increased Al Qaeda training in the Afghan-Pakistani border region
The week's 10 best Personal Finance stories July 23-27
In case you missed them, here are the top 10 Personal Finance stories from MarketWatch for the week of July 23-27:
Application Streaming and Desktop Virtualization
I recently completed a paper on application streaming and virtualization. The following is the introduction.
AMF Bowling Centers Strikes Deal with Talent Management Provider, Deploy Solutions, to Innovate and
In a league of its own, AMF seeks to redefine the bowling experience for customers and increase top line revenue with the help of new workforce tools. (PRWeb Sep 6, 2007) Post Comment:Trackback URL: http://www.prweb.com/pingpr.php/RmFsdS1GYWx1LVpldGEtSW5zZS1UaGlyLVplcm8=
19 C. difficile deaths caused by several factors: hospital officials
An epidemic of Clostridium difficile infections that contributed to the deaths of 19 people at a Quebec City hospital last spring was caused by several factors, according to officials who conducted an investigation into the outbreak. (Read on Source)
Bloomberg admits discussing allegations
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg acknowledged Thursday he discussed allegations in a federal lawsuit that his media company mistreated pregnant women.
AOL's online ad sales growth disappoints again (InfoWorld)
InfoWorld - AOL's online ad revenue grew at a much slower pace than the market average in the third quarter, a development likely to fuel skepticism over its ability to build a robust advertising business.
Samung SGH-P960 DVB-H and OMA-BCAST TV Phone
Samsung announced the SGH-P960 DVB-H TV phone with OMA-BCAST support today for Europe. DVB-H was adopted by the European Union earlier this year as the technology for Mobile TV. The new P960 supports also OMA-BCAST (Open Mobile Alliance Mobile Broadca...
Craigslist answers eBay allegations in court (AP)
AP - Classified ad Web site Craigslist is denying online auctioneer eBay's allegation that it unfairly diluted eBay's stake in it and says its board was acting to protect the company.
Legg: Icahn support up if ensures Yahoo price (Reuters)
Reuters - Carl Icahn would have more support in his proxy battle against Yahoo Inc if he pledged not to sell the company for less than $33 a share, Legg Mason portfolio manager Bill Miller said on Tuesday.
Twits and Such for 2008-07-26
now for laundry, dishes, computer maintenance, cleaning and other entertainment # running disk repair on TC from different account. should be a while. now for laundry… # (Read on Source)
SAP, Oracle price hikes open door for license optimization
Oracle and SAP's recent announcements around higher license and support costs may have made one group happy: Third-party companies and consultants who sell wares and services that, in theory, help customers ease the pain of increased software prices.
Acresso Software, one of a number of companies that sell software for cataloging licenses and analyzing usage patterns, recently announced a product tuned for SAP Business Suite.
It can help customers figure out whether they have too many licenses or if their workers are properly classified, said Roger Bottum, senior vice president of marketing at the company, which competes with the likes of Sassafras Software. "That has ultimately a very big impact on the cost of licenses and then the cost of maintenance."
But this capability requires a significant investment. Pricing for Acresso's software is generally $200,000 and up, according to Bottum.
Ray Wang, an analyst with Forrester Research, said there are definitely a few benefits to tracking software assets in an organized way. There are the obvious benefits of eliminating shelfware and ensuring compliance with the terms of licensing deals. But companies can also gain a stronger hand at the negotiating table with vendors if they know what they've got and where, he said.
"In a large company with federated decision-making, one division may have bought 100 copies of [Microsoft] SQL Server and another bought 200 without the knowledge of the other one," he said.
Since vendors often set discounts based on the total value of a contract, it's better for a company to strike deals as a unit, rather than one division making its own purchases, Wang noted.
The six-figure cost of software like Acresso's should be viewed in a certain context, according to Wang. For example, companies could track their licenses on an Excel spreadsheet, although that might effectively require a couple of full-time workers, he said.
But a license management consultant whose company focuses on Oracle said software alone can't get the job done.
"We have yet to find any single product that can add a significant amount of value," said Eliot Colon, president of Miro Consulting in Fords, New Jersey. "We have seen some that add marginal amounts of value. But the issue is that the Oracle licensing rules are highly complex, with hundreds of unique products that have their own rules. There are very few tools that are flexible and adaptable enough."
Companies interested in buying a license management tool should first conduct an initial audit, either by a third party or internally, to discover what they have, Colon said.
Colon's client base is grappling with Oracle's new price list, which pushed through significant increases for many key products, including its database.
Meanwhile, SAP said recently that all customers will be moved to its enterprise-level support, a change that will provide more service but also higher costs down the road. The increases will be rolled out over time until 2012.
The move has not gone over well with some users. The SAP UK & Ireland User Group recently released a statement asking SAP to reconsider its decision, arguing that not all customers require that level of support.
The company is paying attention to what user groups are saying, but most of its customers aren't angry, said SAP spokesman Bill Wohl.
The additional complexity of today's IT environments necessitate a higher level of support, which in turn can create cost-saving efficiencies around matters such as integration, he claimed: "While it may cost a little more, the operational returns provide customers with an ability to keep those increases pretty modest."
Michael Page shares soar on approach by Swiss rival Adecco
Shares of U.K. recruitment firm Michael Page International surge as Swiss competitor Adecco makes an approach about a prospective takeover.
Google-Funded Satellites Promise Internet Access for All
Google is getting on board with a new push to bring high-speed Internet access to parts of world still unconnected. The company has joined Liberty Global and HSBC to fund a startup called "O3b Networks" -- short for the "other 3 billion" people who can't yet surf the Net.
The Many Mad Monikers of Home WiFi Networks
Nearly every time I pull out my iPhone or fire up my laptop, I get an interesting look into the people and businesses that surround me. How do I do this? By looking at the names of their wireless networks. As the number of wireless networks and the number of portable devices that can connect to them continue to increase, naming a wireless network has become the high-tech equivalent of getting a vanity license plate.
Hilton Garden Inn Trains Employees with PSP
Hilton Garden Inn has announced that it is using the Sony PSP to train employees on how to meet customer needs and keep them happy. The PSP training game is called Ultimate Team Play and was created by a firm called Virtual Heroes. The goal of the train...
Updated Information…
FYI…For whatever reason, someone at StumbleUpon thought that I was spamming people and has, thus, suspended my account. This came as a shock to me, seeing as how I NEVER spam people. In any case, I’ve already sent out an email to appeal this egregious error, but rather than sit around and wait for a response, I have set up a new ... (Read on Source)
Supreme Court To Hear Drug Preemption Arguments At Feb. 25 Session
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in its first ever drug preemption case on Feb. 25, the court announced last month (Warner-Lambert Co., et al. v. Kimberly Kent, et al., No. 06-1498, U.S. Sup.) Full story on lexis.com
Susan Solomon: The Thrill of the Blog
For everyone entrenched in Web 3.0 and beyond, allow me to take you back to when you discovered blogging. Remember the empowerment of having your message spread across the globe? Remember the thrill of counting visitors coming to your site to read what you ? yes, YOU ? had to say? This week, I introduced my public relations students in ... (Read on Source)
Mandriva 2009 Helps New Users to Grow
Linux.com: "With this week's release of Mandriva 2009, Mandriva has continued to work on user-friendliness. Aside from a poorly organized installation program and a few scattered problems, Mandriva 2009 offers a desktop experience that is at least the equal of any other distribution for everyday use and that has a strong claim of being the most advanced available for system administration."
Alert! Alert! SciFi and Horror Were Once One and the Same Thing
Here's a scenario for you: It's 1984 and you're seated in a dark theater. A beautiful woman has just appeared naked on screen for no particular reason other than that people enjoy seeing beautiful women naked, and now that same woman -- alas, fully clothed -- is on the run from an unstoppable killing machine, a marginally human force focused only ... (Read on Source)
windows pc performance tuning
... UAC (User Access Control) -- To experienced Windows XP users this feature has won a thousand ... the registry. Optmise the Windows GUI - Windows Vista Premium and above has by default the ...
Microsoft 'Interested' in Open Source Browser: Ballmer
Techworld: "Microsoft has given its most ringing endorsement of open source Web browsers to date with chief executive officer Steve Ballmer not ruling out adopting such technology as an alternative to its own popular Internet Explorer, saying it is "interesting".
Pool Leak Detection in Austin
A number of phone calls are received regularly from swimming pool owners that there is leakage in their swimming pool especially in Austin. And this pool leak detection in Austin is done by a leak detection center. A number of times it is found that there is absolutely no leakage but the lowering of water level is due to evaporation of water from the swimming pool. However many times it is also found to be a real and actual leakage in the swimming pool. If you are facing any problem related to leakage of your swimming pool if you find that this is not due to evaporation of water, do not worry at all as all the different kinds of swimming pools including concrete, vinyl and fiberglass can easily be repaired and fixed. The evaporation also is a problem, as many times the owner of the swimming pool gets confused about whether there is leakage in his/her swimming pool or the water level is going down due to simply the process of evaporation. Swimming pool water loss can very easily occur in conditions of high swimming pool activity and hot environments. Before starting up with any kind of leakage detection it is recommended to give the customer a simply and easy test which is called onsite. To test whether the loss of water of the swimming pool is due to evaporation, get a very large bucket of around 10 gallon and fill the bucket partially. Mark the water level in both, the bucket and the swimming pool either with a permanent marker or a duct tape. Using a permanent marker for marking is not preferred. Using a duct tape for marking the level of water is much better. For few days switch off your swimming pool pumps and also keep out your swimmers. After few days check the level of water in both, the bucket and the swimming pool. If there is truly no leakage then the fall of level of water in the bucket will surely be comparable to that of fall of water level in the swimming pool. If the levels are found to be same or comparable then you need not worry at all. And if you find the level of water in the swimming pool much lowered, there is truly some kind of leakage in your swimming pool. In such case you must call a pool service company as soon as possible that will check out the reason of leakage and will surely find some way to tackle the problem of leakage in your swimming pool.
Austech Pools offers comprehensive and electronic <a href="http://www.leakdetectionaustintexas.com/" target="_blank">pool leak detection in Austin Texas</a>, <a href="http://www.leakdetectionaustintexas.com/" target="_blank">Structural Crack Repair in Austin Texas</a> and <a href="http://www.leakdetectionaustintexas.com/" target="_blank">Spa Leaks Swimming Pool Inspections in Austin Texas</a>.
Can Two New Directors Turn Sun's Ship Around?
Sun Microsystems' biggest institutional investor -- Southeastern Asset Management -- plans to add two new members to the struggling server maker's board of directors. Southeastern owns 22 percent of Sun's common stock. Founded in 1975, Southeastern has $34 billion in total assets under management. Southeastern's Monday announcement comes at a time when Sun is struggling mightily.
GMI: 2; GMIR: 5; T2108: 85
The GMIR fell one, to 5 on Wednesday...
name: MAGPIE