eWeek articles from January 2005

eWeek archives from January 2005

Apple Set to Launch $500 Mac.(Brief Article)
January 3, 2005... In a bid to take advantage of the success of the iPod music player, Apple Computer Inc. is set to release a Mac retailing at under $500. A report on Mac news site Think Secret claimed that the product, code-named Q88, is expected to be...

Variations on Three Systems Themes.(computer information systems)
January 3, 2005... My letter of last week, urging that systems be designed to doubt themselves, generated a surprising amount of reader mail for a week when so many offices were closed and so many people were taking time off. Three themes emerged. i) Systems...

Oracle Officers Take Over PeopleSoft Posts.(Brief Article)
January 3, 2005... WASHINGTON (AP)--Four executives of PeopleSoft Corp. were replaced by officers of Oracle Corp., which is working to complete a $10.3-billion acquisition of its business software rival, according to a regulatory filing Thursday. The...

SBC Plans Set-Top Box with Web Links.
January 3, 2005... SBC Communications Inc. is merging home entertainment and digital content through the television set-top box. The San Antonio, Texas-based telecommunications provider on Monday announced a joint venture with equipment maker 2Wire Inc. to...

'EICU' Lets Doctors Monitor Many Patients.(Kaleida Health System adopted enhanced intensive care technology)
January 3, 2005... BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP)--Your next doctor could be keeping an eye on you from afar--via a camera and a bank of computer screens. An expanding number of hospitals are adopting technology that allows critical care doctors and nurses to monitor dozens...

TiVo Unveils Portable Transfer Service.
January 3, 2005... SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP)--TiVo Inc. pioneered digital video recording as a new way of watching television--when you want it. Now it could be TV where you want it, too. The long-awaited service feature called TiVoToGo, set to launch Monday,...

Blog Creation, Readership Rise in 2004.
January 3, 2005... NEW YORK (AP)--Readership of online journals known as blogs grew significantly in 2004, driven by increased awareness of them during the presidential campaign and other major news events, according to a study released Sunday. Twenty-seven...

Prescient, viaLink Merge for Streamlined Supply Chain.(merger between Prescient Systems Inc. and viaLink Co. to form Prescient Applied Intelligence)
January 3, 2005... In one of the first IT mergers of 2005, supply-chain vendor Prescient Systems Inc. has been combined with The viaLink Company, a retail and e-commerce technology specialist, to form a new, publicly traded company called PAI (Prescient Applied...

VOIP to Make Mainstream Move at CES.(Voice over Internet Protocol, International Consumer Electronics Show)
January 3, 2005... Devices necessary for making VOIP (voice over IP) work in new ways will make their debut at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week. These products include a chip-level solution that will soon find its way into...

Wikis at Work.(JotSpot)
January 3, 2005... Sometimes a corporate database is just two-fisted overkill, with too many ties that bind. Databases, with their fields and their schemas, are often overly structured for the kinds of on-the-fly data-collection tasks many businesses encounter....

Microsoft Readies 'A1' Security Subscription Service.(Software)(Brief Article)
January 4, 2005... Publicly, Microsoft continues to be cagey about packaging and pricing plans for its anti-spyware and anti-virus solutions. But privately, Microsoft has begun informing partners of its plans for a security subscription service code-named "A1,"...

Tapping CES for Enterprise Tips.(Consumer Electronics Show)
January 4, 2005... We know that the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is all about the latest, coolest technology to be consumed by the masses, but that doesn't mean managers and users of IT can't find a way to use it at work--for efficiency's...

Apple Soups Up Xserve, Ships Xsan.
January 4, 2005... Apple Computer Inc. took aim at the data center on Tuesday, unveiling a new version of its Xserve line of rack-mountable servers and announcing the availability of its Xsan storage area network file system in advance of next week's MacWorld...

Mobile Phone Firms Link for New High-Speed Standard.(Brief Article)
January 4, 2005... TOKYO (Reuters)--Leading wireless carriers and telecoms equipment makers have agreed to develop an advanced mobile phone standard capable of sending high-resolution video in an instant, Japan's NTT DoCoMo said on Friday. A group of 26...

Skype Experimenting with Voice-Mail Service.(Brief Article)
January 4, 2005... AMSTERDAM (Reuters)--Skype, the company behind the flourishing Internet telephony network, has begun to experiment with a voicemail service, hoping to introduce new paid offerings to capitalize on its success. The Luxembourg-based start-up...

Microsoft Anti-Spyware Beta Takes Familiar Shape.
January 4, 2005... The first drop of Microsoft Corp.'s "A1" security sauce has been spilled internally and it's all systems go for a full-scale beta launch of an anti-spyware application within the next month. A spokesperson for the software giant confirmed...

Sun Pushes Data Archiving Envelope with Honeycomb.(Products)
January 4, 2005... With the eventual introduction of Honeycomb, Sun Microsystems Inc. is determined to move file storage and archiving to the next level. As envisioned, Honeycomb will handle large-scale archiving of large collections of static data. The...

Oracle Ousts Its Own Execs.
January 4, 2005... In the midst of swapping out executives at recently acquired PeopleSoft Inc., Oracle Corp. is also making some internal adjustments. The company quietly replaced two top executives last week, including Ron Wohl, executive vice president of...

Sun Shares Tumble Again After Downgrade.
January 4, 2005... SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters)--Shares of network computer maker Sun Microsystems Inc. fell for a second day on Tuesday after another Wall Street analyst cautioned clients not to expect an unusually strong quarter from the company. Steven...

Lenovo Must Invest to Keep IBM Brand's Lure.
January 4, 2005... This is one of these "and then the other shoe dropped" stories, and it involves the IBM-Lenovo deal that sent Big Blue's PC business to the Chinese. It turns out, according to SEC filings reported in The Register, that IBM's PC business wasn't...

New WINS Exploits Making Rounds.(Windows Internet Name Service)(Brief Article)
January 4, 2005... Almost a month after Microsoft released a fix for a security issue in the WINS (Windows Internet Name Service) name server, malicious exploits continue to haunt tardy network administrators. According to an alert from the SANS ISC (Internet...

Apple Rumors Fly as Macworld Nears.
January 4, 2005... Unlike most computer manufacturers, Apple shrouds its product plans in secrecy, often unveiling surprise announcements at its annual Macworld expo and usually leading to rampant speculation among the faithful beforehand. But the run-up to...

UPS Picks Barnes to Replace Lacy as CIO.(Chief Information Officers)(Retirements)
January 4, 2005... United Parcel Services on Tuesday announced the retirement of its CIO, Ken Lacy, and the immediate appointment of Dave Barnes to succeed him. Barnes, 48, joined the Atlanta-based package-shipping company in 1977 as a part-time package...

Wal-Mart Stung in $1.5 Million Bar-Code Scam.
January 5, 2005... In a scheme that leveraged a little technology but relied on inattentive cashiers, Tennessee authorities have arrested two couples on charges that they used bogus bar codes to steal at least $1.5 million from hundreds of stores--some belonging...

Item-Level RFID Is Years Away for Retailers.(Radio Frequency Identification)
January 5, 2005... In a recent shenanigan at a Wal-Mart store, techno-fraudsters printed out fake barcode labels and, in one instance, a $100 mattress rang up at checkout for the price of a bunch of bananas. But what if Wal-Mart had been in the habit of attaching...

Apple Owes the Enterprise a Better Client.(market share of Apple Computer Inc.)
January 5, 2005... As Apple heads into Macworld Expo, a lot of the buzz focuses on Apple, the pop consumer company. Much is made of the fact that a quarter of Apple's revenue recently came from the iPod and the online music store. Of course, this leaves the...

Growth in Digital Media Offers CES Hints.(International Consumer Electronics Show)
January 5, 2005... LAS VEGAS--Soothsayers attempting to divine the hot trends at this year's International Consumer Electronics Show need to look no further than TiVo and the iPod. Those products represent two of the fastest growing categories in consumer...

Verbatim Hedges Next-Gen DVD Bets.(Digital Video Disks)(Brief Article)
January 5, 2005... Verbatim Corp. and its parent, Mitsubishi Kagaku Media, said Monday that the media manufacturer will support both Blu-Ray and HD DVD, the two competing next-generation optical formats. The implication is that Verbatim has not determined...

Maxtor Enters Home NAS Market.(Network Attached Storage)(Brief Article)
January 5, 2005... Maxtor Corp. said Monday that it had entered the network-storage market with Maxtor Shared Storage, a product for the home and small office. The Shared Storage product will be available in the U.S. in February from major retailers, the...

Adobe Policy Server Sets PDF Access Rights.(Portable Data Format)
January 5, 2005... Adobe Systems Inc. Tuesday announced the availability of the Adobe LifeCycle Policy Server, which company officials say provides the strongest and most versatile security controls Adobe has ever delivered for determining who can open or modify...

Oracle: A Hair Away from Total Control.(Acquisition)
January 5, 2005... With 89.4 percent of PeopleSoft Inc. shares in its grasp, Oracle Corp. is a hair away from closing its acquisition. It therefore announced late Tuesday evening that it is yet again extending its tender offer, until Thursday at 8 p.m. EDT. ...

Six Apart to Buy LiveJournal.(Danga Interactive Inc.)(Acquisitions)(Brief Article)
January 5, 2005... Six Apart Ltd., the small software firm founded by childhood sweethearts Ben and Mena Trott, is set to make a big splash with the acquisition of Danga Interactive Inc.'s LiveJournal blogging network. The deal, which will be announced on...

Microsoft Hasn't Changed With the Times.
January 5, 2005... It's barely started, but 2005 already looks like a challenging year for Microsoft. In fact, the company faces more challenges than it ever has, and serious ones, too. No, Microsoft isn't sinking, but it's not gaining very much, either. The...

Oracle Ships 10g for Mac OS X.
January 5, 2005... Oracle Corp. quietly began shipping Oracle Database 10g and Oracle JDeveloper 10g for the Mac OS X Server in late December, an Oracle spokesperson confirmed. Whether anybody cares is another matter, analysts said. Oracle and Apple Computer...

FalconStor Ups Storage Server Ante with Windows Support.
January 5, 2005... FalconStor Software Inc. has upgraded its software-based iSCSI storage server, imbuing it with new capabilities that allow it to be used not only as a storage controller but also as an archiving, backup and restore system. The product,...

Rumors Swirl Around Apple Office Suite.(Apple iWork '05)(Brief Article)
January 5, 2005... Exactly one week before Macworld begins in San Francisco, details have emerged about a rumored replacement to Apple's aging AppleWorks productivity suite. Called iWork '05 and code-named "Sugar," the new suite is expected to include Keynote 2...

Apple Slams Rumor Site with Lawsuit.
January 5, 2005... Apple Computer filed another lawsuit in the Superior Court of Santa Clara County on Tuesday against a Web site alleged to have posted proprietary information or trade secrets. This follows a filing in December by Apple Computer Inc. of...

Patent-Pending Technology Sets New RFID Accuracy Mark.(Radio Frequency Identification)
January 5, 2005... Kraft Foods Inc., German-based retail chain Metro AG and other big customers are now sampling patent-pending technology from Worldlabel.Com aimed at overcoming inaccurate reads, one of the largest obstacles to widespread RFID deployment. ...

Archipelago Buys Pacific Stock Exchange.(PCX Holdings Inc.)
January 5, 2005... Archipelago Holdings Inc. has announced its intention to acquire PCX Holdings Inc., which is the parent of the Pacific Stock Exchange. The deal brings Archipelago the exchange's electronic system for trading stock options, and the...

Bar-Code Scam at Wal-Mart: A Matter of Priorities.
January 5, 2005... The most well-planned and meticulously detailed crimes are often foiled by the commonplace. The thieves might map out their route precisely, coordinating it based on when various employees come and go. But security guard No. 9 gets a flat tire...

Gates Heralds Microsoft's Place in 'Digital Lifestyle'.
January 5, 2005... LAS VEGAS--Microsoft chairman Bill Gates on Wednesday evening will herald the arrival of the "digital lifestyle" here during his annual rite: the kickoff address to the crowd at the International Consumer Electronics Show the evening before its...

Blogs' Power Stretches Far Beyond Politics.
January 5, 2005... Until a few weeks ago, the attention paid to Weblogs, or blogs, focused on politics and the media business. Bloggers were most famously credited with unmasking a fake memo that CBS used for a story about President Bush's Army Reserve records....

Microsoft overhauls Small Business Manager.(Microsoft Small Business Financials 8.0)
January 6, 2005... Microsoft has enhanced and rebranded its Microsoft Business Solutions Small Business Manager, which is designed for use by small businesses in the United States and Canada with 10 to 49 employees. Now called Microsoft Small Business Financials...

Intel, others tout innovative chips at CES.(Consumer Electronics Show)
January 6, 2005... Seeking to take some share of the spotlight at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, a number of microprocessor vendors offered the media and attendees a peek at forthcoming chip sets. Some vendors revealed more than others....

Two Open-Source Databases Add Enterprise Appeal.
January 6, 2005... Two new versions of the most popular open-source databases, MySQL and PostgreSQL, this month will deliver yet more features to make enterprises happy. Marc Fournier, president of PostgreSQL Inc., a support company for PostgreSQL, told...

eBay Forms Industry Group to Tackle E-Waste.
January 6, 2005... LAS VEGAS--Online auction giant eBay Inc. is leading an effort to encourage the recycling or resale of used computers and consumers electronics. eBay on Wednesday launched the Rethink Initiative and a related Web site at the International...

Motorola Previews iTunes Phone.(Brief Article)
January 6, 2005... LAS VEGAS--A Motorola executive on Thursday previewed an upcoming mobile phone that can play music from Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes store. Speaking during a keynote at the International Consumer Electronics Show here, the executive...

Electronics Supply Chain Group Goes Global.(International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative)
January 6, 2005... Less than a month after the NCSC (National Cargo Security Council) made similar moves, an industry trade group in another segment--NEMI (National Electronics Manufacturing Initiative)--has changed its name, with plans to take additional steps...

Microsoft to Serve Up Monthly Virus Zapper.
January 6, 2005... Continuing its recent spate of security moves, Microsoft Corp. on Thursday said it plans to release a virus detection and removal tool on Jan. 11. The antivirus fighter will be updated on the second Tuesday of every month as part of the...

Low-Cost Storage Proliferates for Portable Devices.
January 6, 2005... A growing number of storage vendors are rolling out low-cost storage wares designed to maximize home networking environments, mobile phones, digital video devices and enterprise ATA applications. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las...

StorageTek Hones ILM Strategy with Cisco Deal.(Information Lifecycle Management)
January 6, 2005... StorageTek, a company that is pushing its ILM (Information Lifecycle Management) agenda more strongly than ever these days, has just struck a deal with Cisco Systems to resell its intelligent directors and fabric switches. The agreement...

Search Startup Tackles the Mac Desktop.(Blinkx Inc.)
January 6, 2005... Blinkx Inc. hopes to steal some search thunder from Apple Computer Inc. on the eve of the Macworld Conference & Expo next week. The startup on Monday plans to release a Mac OS X version of its desktop search application, which automatically...

Microsoft Preps Patches for 'Critical' Flaws.(Brief Article)
January 6, 2005... Microsoft Corp.'s first monthly patch day for 2005 will include security fixes for three vulnerabilities in Windows products, the software giant said Thursday. As part of its advance notice mechanism, Microsoft said the maximum severity...

Cisco Eyes Airespace in Wireless LAN Switch Realm.
January 6, 2005... Rumors are flying among several industry sources this week that Cisco Systems Inc. is in serious talks to acquire wireless LAN switch startup Airespace Inc. The networking giant may pay at least $400 million for Airespace, and a document...

Intel's Barrett Talks Mobility at CES.(Craig Barrett )
January 6, 2005... LAS VEGAS--Intel Corp. CEO Craig Barrett looked forward to the company's launch of its next-generation mobile "Sonoma" platform by touting some of the applications of a mobile lifestyle. Barrett spoke Thursday in the opening keynote here at...

Opera Delivers Beta of Linux Web Browser.
January 6, 2005... Norwegian software vendor Opera Software ASA on Tuesday released the beta version of its Opera Web browser for Linux. The announcement comes several weeks after Opera announced the release of the beta of Opera 8 for Windows. Both versions...

Vonage Plans Cordless, Wireless and Video VOIP.(Brief Article)
January 6, 2005... In a series of joint press announcements at the International Consumer Electronics Show, Vonage Holdings Corp. announced a number of new partnerships with leading providers of telephone devices. VTech Holdings Ltd., a manufacturer of...

Lawsuit Claims Apple Violates Law with iTunes.
January 6, 2005... SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters)--An unhappy iTunes online music store customer is suing Apple Computer Inc., alleging the company broke antitrust laws by only allowing iTunes to work with its own music player, the iPod, freezing out competitors, court...

New DRM Scheme Could Make Current DVD Players Obsolete.(Digital Rights Management)
January 6, 2005... LAS VEGAS--Guess what? Your DVD player might now be obsolete. Hewlett-Packard Co. and Royal Philips Electronics NV said Wednesday that they have developed a content-protection system for DVDs, designed to protect users from burning...

Anti-Piracy Patents for Cell Phones Pooled.(Open Mobile Alliance, an organization of handset makers and mobile telecoms operators)
January 6, 2005... AMSTERDAM (Reuters)--A film and music technology firm said on Thursday it had grouped together all the patents needed to protect digital film and music on mobile phones against piracy, the first time digital rights have been pooled. MPEG...

IBM Buys Identity Company to Nail Down Who's Who.(acquisition of Systems Research and Development Inc. by International Business Machines Corp.)
January 7, 2005... You have a Richard Smith of Maple Street who once ripped off your casino. Now, Dick Smith of Maple Avenue wants a job as a cashier. Is there a connection, should you worry, and do you have the software that even suggests a possible link? ...

HP Pushes into the Living Room.(Hewlett-Packard Co. plans to introduce new media hubs, high-definition televisions and home projectors)(Brief Article)
January 7, 2005... LAS VEGAS--Hewlett-Packard Co. is preparing to expand its presence in the living room this year with its first HDTV media hub and 17 new high-definition televisions and home projectors, the company's top executive said here on Friday. ...

Will Blu-Ray Include Region Encoding?(Blu-Ray Disc Association)(Brief Article)
January 7, 2005... LAS VEGAS--Representatives for the Blu-Ray Disc Association said Thursday that several rights management issues still remain under discussion. In response to audience questions at a news conference held at the Consumer Electronics Show...

Weighing In on Municipal Wireless.
January 7, 2005... Somewhere between politics and protests, practical solutions usually can be found. Those who prefer practicality to rhetoric can often avoid the slings and arrows of political fortune and chart their own course to a desired end. My request...

WeatherBug Miffed at Microsoft's Spyware Classification.
January 7, 2005... Microsoft Corp.'s newly released anti-spyware is flagging a component of AWS Convergence Technologies' WeatherBug application as a threat to Windows users, prompting an immediate complaint from the Gaithersburg, Md.-based company. ...

SBC Sees Internet TV on Its Phone Lines.(SBC Communications Inc.)
January 7, 2005... LAS VEGAS (Reuters)--SBC Communications Inc. plans to launch television over the Internet with new compression technology, turning the table on cable companies encroaching on its phone business, the company's chief operating officer said on...

Does the Brain Work Like the Internet?
January 7, 2005... Computer scientists studying the stability of Internet connections may someday find their research used to help patients suffering from schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease or stroke. Recently published research indicates, for the first time,...

High-Risk Flaws Flagged in IE, Mozilla.(Internet Explorer and open-source Mozilla browsers)
January 7, 2005... Security researchers have raised the alarm for a series of unrelated, high-risk vulnerabilities in Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer and the open-source Mozilla browsers. According to a Secunia advisory, the most serious IE flaw could be...

Verizon Wireless Extends 3G Network, Launches Multimedia Service.
January 7, 2005... LAS VEGAS--At the Consumer Electronics Show here, Verizon Wireless on Friday announced the launch of a new 3G wireless multimedia service that will run on Verizon's high-speed CDMA EvDO (Code Division Multiple Access Evolution Data Optimized)...

Oracle-PeopleSoft: The Deal Is Done.(merger of Oracle Corp. and PeopleSoft Inc.)(Brief Article)
January 7, 2005... Finally, after 18 bitter months of battle, with 97 percent of outstanding stock in hand, Oracle Corp. on Friday will seal the deal on PeopleSoft Inc. After the expiration of its latest tender offer extension at 8 p.m. EST Thursday, Oracle...

Alvarion on Track for Mobile WiMax.(plans to use wireless broadband standard)(Brief Article)
January 7, 2005... LAS VEGAS--WiMax provider Alvarion Inc. said Thursday that the company is on schedule for mobile WiMax deployment, with a demonstration of the technology scheduled for next year. The public WiMax timetable, according to Intel Corp. and...

Powell Calls for Clear Timeline in Digital TV Transition.(Michael Powell)(Brief Article)
January 7, 2005... LAS VEGAS--In television's transition to digital, there's a missing link: a firm date for when broadcasters must completely switch from analog to digital broadcasts. That link needs to be found this year in order to end uncertainty in the...

Adobe Reader 7 Beta Hits Linux Desktops.(Adobe Systems Inc.)(Brief Article)
January 7, 2005... Adobe Systems has released an update to its popular, freely available document reader software. The newly renamed "Adobe Reader 7.0" now allows users to collaborate on projects and provides additional file security at the server level. And...

Genentech Posts Higher Profit.(Brief Article)
January 10, 2005... Genentech Inc. on Monday said its fourth-quarter profit rose as strong sales of its cancer drugs offset higher expenses, including the cost of launching new lung cancer drug Tarceva. The world's second biggest biotechnology company posted a...

Can the Mac Do Without Microsoft Office?
January 10, 2005... Can the Macintosh survive without Microsoft Office? It's a question that has followed Steve Jobs since his return to Cupertino in 1996. At the time, Apple was in deep financial trouble, and a bailout from Microsoft--of all people--got the...

Drug Firms Slow to Post Results on Internet.(Brief Article)
January 10, 2005... Six months after drug companies promised to make results from clinical trials available on the Internet, only five unpublished studies have appeared on the web site the drug companies set up for that purpose. In the wake of revelations that the...

Cisco to Resell EMC Centralized Storage Equipment.(Brief Article)
January 10, 2005... EMC Corp. and Cisco Systems Inc. on Monday said they have agreed to a tentative deal in which Cisco will resell EMC's centralized network storage equipment to manage data in branch offices. The joint venture takes aim at EMC's rival in the...

Hackers Tune In to Windows Media Player.(reports of Panda Software about Trj/WmvDownloader.A and Trj/WmvDownloader.B trojans)
January 10, 2005... Hackers are using the newest DRM technology in Microsoft's Windows Media Player to install spyware, adware, dialers and computer viruses on unsuspecting PC users. Security researchers have detected the appearance of two new Trojans,...

Macworld Eve Rumor: Flash-Based iPod.(Apple iPod)
January 10, 2005... Apple Computer Inc., with its legendary secrecy around product plans, and the Mac-centric rumor Web sites, always sniffing for scoops, exist in a kind of asymmetric feedback loop: The tighter Apple clamps down on information, the more active...

Former AOL, PurchasePro Execs Indicted.
January 10, 2005... WASHINGTON (Reuters)--A federal grand jury on Monday indicted six former executives of Time Warner Inc.'s America Online unit and former business partner PurchasePro.com on charges of conspiracy to inflate revenues. The six men, including...

AMD, Lenovo Win PC Contract for Chinese Schools.(Brief Article)
January 10, 2005... SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters)--Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Lenovo Group Ltd. and Dawning Information Industry have won a contract to supply 26,000 AMD-based computers for newly wired classrooms in a Chinese province. The program, in the eastern...

What's Driving the IT Client.(technology application of auto drivers)
January 10, 2005... IT providers love to associate their products with the satisfying experience of driving a well-tuned sports car. We hear about "dashboards" and "cockpits" for the enterprise information user; we read about database "engines" and even laptop...

Oracle Lite 10g Mobilizes Data.
January 10, 2005... In an effort to better tie mobility to its grid computing-based flagship database server infrastructure and application development capabilities, Oracle Corp. on Monday introduced Oracle Database Lite 10g. Currently available at $100 per...

Microsoft, MBC and the Problem of Counterfeit Software.(MBC Enterprises LLC )
January 10, 2005... MBC Enterprises LLC and Microsoft Corp. are now headed back to trial over allegations of buying and selling counterfeit software after MBC won its appeal. Microsoft had won a summary judgment against MBC, a Salt Lake City software...