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I'd like to start today's blog with a big hello to the British Government. I say a big hello although they won't be watching everything I type just yet, that's going to be a little later. They're trying to pass laws over here that mean they'll be allowed to monitor …

Today's stock dive - over 700 points - is being linked directly to this month's retail sales number, which fell 1.2% for September. That's twice as much as analysts had expected. Retail sales are of particular interest to the technology sector, which counts heavily on consumer spending to buy its …

I've written about broadband speeds twice lately. Never being one to quit while I'm ahead, here I go again. Yesterday I looked at the forthcoming superfast broadband to the home (or at least as far as the outer wall of the home, the ageing cables inside are another matter) and …

If the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) gets its way, businesses may soon get a [URL="http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-domains1308oct13,0,1893293.story"]whole new crop of top-level domain names[/URL] to choose from. Though they'll probably cost around $100,000 to purchase, the chance to own a user- and search-friendly domain will be a no-brainer for …

It's starting, then. In the UK we're going to follow some experiments I've seen in France and start getting fibreoptic connections to the home for superfast broadband. The [URL="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7667761.stm"]BBC[/URL] has notes on where this is starting, but what interests me more is just why they're bothering just yet. 18 months …

At the end of trading today (Friday) it looks like the stock market won't end up in positive territory, but it will come close - an event every trader and investor on the planet planet will take in a Wall Street minute. No rhyme or reason why, it just seems …

Grasping, clawing, and scratching for a single slice, however thin, of good news out of the worst stock market week ever. Okay. IBM’ earnings were actually pretty good. Tech spending for software and services – what Big Blue does best – is holding up, and if there is a soft …

If you were offended by that headline, or perhaps felt intimidated by it, then you are not alone. In fact, a new study published by the Journal of School Health has revealed that cyber-bullying is so common amongst teenagers who use the Internet a lot (so that's most teenagers then) …

The stock market seems to be playing a waiting game with a Congressional bailout taking on a new shape in Washington. I’m hearing about a new bailout plan that would raise FDIC insurance limits from $100,000 to $250,000 and would include some kind of capital gains tax relief to ease …

MDY Industries developed a popular World of Warcraft bot by the name of MMOGlider. Popular because, I would imagine, it took much of the donkey work out of progressing through the virtual world by automating repetitive tasks. You know, the boring stuff such as slaying monsters and scavenging for loot. …

Ever looked at something, done a double-take, looked again and yes, that is what you saw but your brain told you it could not be? That is exactly what just happened to me when I read the NASA press release which informed me, in no uncertain terms, that it was …

I might have mentioned that I wrote the book proposal and the first two chapters for Peter Schiff (aka "Dr. Doom) and his increasingly prescient book "Crash Proof: How To Profit From the Coming Economic Collapse." Schedule conflicts made it impossible to keep working on the book, but Schiff finished …

With ElectricCommander 3.0 set to begin shipping this week, I caught up with Electric Cloud CEO Mike Maciag to better understand the build automation tool's new "preflight" capability. That's a feature that determines whether changes to code will integrate correctly with the main build before those changes are actually checked …

I've been writing for a year now on how the information technology sector would be impacted by an economic downturn. Well, it looks like we're going to really find out. As I've written, when credit dries up and loans and capital are hard to get, tech companies hunker down and …

...with the idea that the world is coming crashing down around our shoulders, particularly with IT stocks falling and banks making tech staff redundant, let's have a think about one particular story. The EU is going to try to get [URL="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7637215.stm"]broadband to every house[/URL] on the continent from which I …

While we play "wait and see" for Congressional leaders to hammer out some kind of bailout package for lenders and banks, there's other news going on - believe it or not - on Wall Street. While switching between CNBC, CNN and Fox News to get the latest on the financial …

One of my favorite things about Twitter is how people can use it to live-blog conferences they're attending. Case in point: today, I've been watching [URL="http://twitter.com/thornley"]Joseph Thornley[/URL], provide live commentary from the Canadian Institute Conference on Social Media. I've been learning about how the City of Calgary manages social media …

I guess no one ever asked before--maybe no one cares--or maybe it just isn't discussed. While at VMWorld, I asked a major virtualization vendor representative if they had implemented VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) in their Enterprise. The answer I got is shocking to me. Maybe someone should have asked before. …

NASA is looking for organizations to become members of its CIO Executive Board, which serves under the Corporate Executive Board. Now that's a job I can get behind. According to the [URL="http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=29280"]official solicitation[/URL], "The membership includes unlimited accesses to proprietary council research for staff designated by the member CIO; a …

What can your IT department learn from Microsoft's latest advertising bungles? Plenty. When the company released its "Mojave Experiment" ads (which I'd link to but the site forces you to install Silverlight to view them), the premise was rather sad. It seemed to suggest that at least one of the …

Some good news - rare good news - from the U.S. stock market late today as reports and rumors seem to point to a new U.S. government agency to assume and/or manage bad debts for financial services companies. The new agency, similar to the Resolution Trust Corp of the early …

VMWorld's third day came complete with discussions of the pros and cons of VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure), Virtual Appliances, and the biggest party I've ever seen at the Las Vegas Speedway. VDI is this year's hot topic at VMWorld but I suspect that it's embers will die before VMWorld 2009. …

This is a strange one. Forgive me for bringing the subject up but airline staff are [URL="http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10040910-1.html?tag=mncol"]asking that their providers restrict the sites people can look at when they're flying[/URL]. Essentially they're asking that people shouldn't look at porn while they're serving coffee, and funnily enough some of the passengers …

If you're part of a software development team that performs multiple daily builds, then you might replace the term "continuous integration" with "continuous build failure." A company called [url=http://electric-cloud.com/]Electric Cloud[/url] may offer a solution. The software production tools maker later this month will begin shipping ElectricCommander 3.0, the latest version …

Technology workers are nervous enough without worrying about the health and safety of their investment deposits. While I think what I'm bringing to you now is nine parts hyperbole and one part reality, it makes for an interesting and even frightening discussion. Specifically, are your bank and investment deposits safe? …

You've got to love this one. A Bangladesh government website, for the Rapid Action Battalion, was hacked last week. It was one of those hacktivism style affairs, with the home page defaced and a message left in its place. The message, in this instance, read: "GOVERNMENT DOES NOT TAKE ANY …

In Part I of our look at the proposed economic policies of John McCain and Barack Obama, we found that each candidate brings his parties economic idealism to the table, whether that's a good or a bad thing. McCain will be a no-taxes, free-trading, domestic drilling supply sider right out …

No sooner had the echoes of “Sarah *who*?” faded than the blogosphere was on the job, showing that even for an unknown person from a remote area, there was plenty of readily accessible information available – and not only perhaps doing a better job of vetting than the McCain campaign …

There’s an old joke that the definition of a successful politician is a person who can stand on a fence and make voters believe it’s a platform. That’s a tall order, however, for presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama – especially when it comes to their economic policies (and …

Twitter users are a loyal bunch and few would argue that it's a useful networking tool. The one thing Twitter is not, however, is private. While that's not a big deal for most people, it certainly is in the world of academics where it's ill-advised to have children using communication …

On a Friday afternoon before a holiday weekend, Comcast released its latest volley against its customer base, announcing a 250 GB monthly download limit. According to reports, after the first violation, you will get a message from your friends at Comcast warning you about your dastardly behavior (aka using the …

As I watch the founders of [URL="http://www.geek-pac.org/blog/"]GeekPAC[/URL], a political action group aimed at defending the information rights of U.S. citizens, get themselves up and running I can't help but wonder what other tech-oriented groups would benefit from a similar group. Would IT workers? What would they lobby for? Sick of …

In the words of the immortal Chris Farley . . . “Holy Shnikey’s!” That was my reaction after watching Dell’s stock tank after what pundits are billing as an “underwhelming” second quarter earnings performance. Investors seemed to agree on Thursday, as Dell stock fell 13% to under $22 per share …

Researchers at the [URL="http://www,port.ac.uk"]University of Portsmouth [/URL]are creating a rehabilitation programme for stroke victims that puts them onto a treadmill which immerses them into a virtual environment. Apparently the device works by using a series of moving images which essentially trick the brain of the patient into believing they are …

When one thinks about high-tech states, one typically thinks of places such as California and Massachusetts. But....Alabama? The Southern state was the only state government on CIO Magazine’s top 100 institutions for excellence in information technology. According to CIO, the state provides more than 130 e-government applications through the [URL="http://www.alabama.gov/portal/index.jsp"]state's …

A website purporting to encourage improved broadband Internet access in the U.S. runs the risk of undercutting its argument by playing games with statistics. [URL="http://www.speedmatters.org/"]www.speedmatters.org[/URL], a project of the Communications Workers of America, has released its second survey of broadband Internet speeds in the U.S., noting that there has been …

A lousy way to start off the week on Wall Street. Stocks were down 250 points by 1 PM Monday, mostly from downbeat earnings expectations from financial giant AIG. Adding fuel to the fire was a modest spike in oil prices (to $115 per barrel) mostly due the onslaught of …

Both the Democratic and Republican national conventions -- scheduled for next week and the following week, respectively -- will feature major roles for bloggers, giving them the same access as traditional press. Hundreds of bloggers are slated to attend the Democratic convention in Denver -- 500 alone paid $100 for …

Intel Thursday unveiled something [URL=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla]Nikola Tesla[/URL] could only dream of. The company this week was demonstrating the ability to transmit 60 watts of electrical power across three feet of thin air with 75 percent efficiency. I had a toothbrush once that recharged without wires. Every time the handheld part was …

It's football season and time for the old "option" play - with Cisco Systems, IBM and Hewlett-Packard lining up in the backfield. Options are a riskier way of investing on stocks. Essentially, options allow you to buy or sell a company's stock at a stated price and a stated date. …

Salesforce.com is one of those companies that business writers and Wall Street investors refer to as an “upstart” or a “growth” company. But those days may be over. The company pioneered the concept of software-as-a-service, which enables companies and individuals to access software over the Internet via a web browser. …

Toshiba is taking another crack at high-definition DVD, sort of. Half a year after it [URL=http://www.hddvdfreak.com/2008/02/hd-dvd-is-dead.html]ceased combat major operations[/URL] in the format wars with Philips, Sony and the Blu-ray format, Toshiba has taken the wraps off [URL=http://www.tacp.toshiba.com/dvd/]XDE[/URL], a new up-conversion format that it claims can wring more resolution from pictures …

I spend a lot of time on this blog talking about specific technology companies that could take off and add some real beef to your financial portfolio (or warn you about tech stocks that could cut into your market gains). What I'd like to do more is to discuss countries …

Last week saw a potential top in commodities prices, as both oil and gold prices seem to have stalled out from their upward march in 2008. That should have spelled relief for the stock market, which has been down by 13% in 2008, as measured by the Dow Jones Industrial …

I've written about the importance of knowing your investments before you buy them. You might remember the story about Fidelity Magellan mutual fund legend Peter Lynch, who would spend his Saturdays walking around Boston looking to see where shoppers were spending their money. Then he'd invest Magellan's money in the …

The state of Maine has found an innovative way to find funding to supports its technology industry – the state issued $50 million in bonds and just awarded $30 million in grants, with the remaining $20 million to be allocated this fall. Funding for the Maine Technology Asset Fund was …

This week doesn’t bode well for the overall stock market, even though the Dow Jones was up 300 points on Friday, and even though tech stocks have held up well over the past few weeks in a volatile traading environment. My chief concern is the Russia military action in Georgia. …

I'm in hog heaven right now. I've got nothing to do today but munch on [URL=http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2369/2156053173_976de8781a.jpg?v=0]linzer tarts[/URL] and watch the first day of 2008 Olympic games live from Bejing, China. And if the mood strikes me (as it obviously has), maybe even do a bit of blogging. Unlike with previous …

It's been a long-running joke that Republicans don't understand technology, what with United States Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) trying to describe the Internet as a [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Series_of_tubes"]"series of tubes"[/URL] and President George W. Bush referring to [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internets"]"the Internets."[/URL] However, a new generation of Republicans is not only learning to use technologies …

How's this for a news story? Genuitec, which develops the MyEclipse commercial Eclipse IDE, announced today that it is working toward a near-zero carbon footprint and wants other Java tool companies to do the same. Stay with me here. Touting its environmentally friendly ways, the company starts with a boast …