August 2008

If you're planning to lie, at least try to be convincing

New Forest District Council has been rapped by the Information Commissioner for posting up personal information on its planning website. The problem is not new, and a number of councils have been ...  Continue Reading

Microsoft buys web comparison site Ciao for search strategy

Microsoft plans to integrate e-commerce website Ciao into its search engine to accelerate its search strategy  Continue Reading

Podcast: Google Apps, software licensing and the IT news for w/e 29 August

Round-up of the latest news in IT including: why software producers are getting tougher on users; Google Apps in the enterprise and Google's 10th birthday.  Continue Reading

Dell blames profit drop on 'conservative' IT spending

Dell has blamed a drop in profits in the second quarter on a slow down in IT spending in the US, western Europe and Asia.  Continue Reading

Hello support, could you change my password?....

I think it would be great if all first line support teams followed the same sort of attitude as staff at British Bank, Lloyds.A man who chose "Lloyds is pants" as his telephone banking password ...  Continue Reading

Microsoft hits XP Professional pirates with Windows Genuine Advantage

Microsoft has stepped up efforts to discourage pirating Windows XP.  Continue Reading

Linux sales dip as corporates buy more mainframes

Sales of Linux-based servers decreased by 1.8% over the year, the first time this operating system has suffered a dip in revenue since the first quarter of 2002, according to analyst IDC's second quarter EMEA Quarterly Serv  Continue Reading

Companies tread carefully on SaaS adoption

History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce, according to Karl Marx. Is software as a service a tragi-comic re-run of the application service provider (ASP) model - a lovely idea that didn't work in practice?  Continue Reading

The future of future-gazing

Those who claim to see the future are often accorded high status in their communities, at least judging by the amount of money we are ready to throw at them. Whether the preferred methodology is ...  Continue Reading

Space station virus alive and kicking

News last week that a computer virus has found its way to the International Space Station will surely make millions for Hollywood film producers. Forget Kubrick's 2001 or the series of Alien movies ...  Continue Reading

Apple’s Steve Jobs wrongly reported dead

The Bloomberg financial newswire has wrongly reported the death of Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

Bloomberg updated a 17-page Steve Jobs obituary to be used...

Internet Explorer 8 causes problems for XP users

Microsoft is warning that some users will be unable to revert to an older version of its Internet Explorer browser if they upgrade to version 8.  Continue Reading

Statistics show men hog the mouse as well as the remote

The internet is more popular among men because they are hard workers that need to be constantly connected, whereas women prefer shopping. Or, men are lazy and are actually surfing the X-rated sites ...  Continue Reading

It's my password and I'll swear if I want to

Lloyds TSB changed the password of computer consultant Steve Jetley from Shrewsbury after he had logged it as "Lloyds is pants". BBC News reported that the bank also stopped him changing his ...  Continue Reading

West Wing creator starts work on Facebook: The Movie

Somebody who will be wincing at the previous story is West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin, who has hit the news with his proposals for "Web 2.0: The Movie". To be precise, Sorkin intends to make a film ...  Continue Reading

University spam researchers discover the alphabet bias

A Cambridge University study has uncovered bad news for the Adams and Alisons of this world. According to their research you are more likely to receive spam if your name, and by consequence your ...  Continue Reading

I've grown accustomed to your interface

Apologies to My Fair Lady, but Ian wrote 'Does the world hate Lotus Notes? Well I bear the scars from an organisation that did.I introduced Notes into Crossrail as part of a tech upgrade connecting ...  Continue Reading