Info-Tech Advisor Newsletter articles from January 2003

Info-Tech Advisor Newsletter archives from January 2003

How to write an IT contract.
January 7, 2003... Sources: (CW360 Article, Hobson Audley Article, HR.com Article, TechSoup.org Article) Contract workers and consultants make up nearly 50 percent of today's IT workforce. When these relationships become strained, involved parties ultimately...

PDA phones: device double-take.
January 7, 2003... Sources: (Network World Fusion Article, Red Herring Article, TechTV Article) With its depressed economy, 2002 was not a banner year for techno-toy sales. One exception has been the phone/PDA (personal digital assistant) combo device. Get a...

Shelfware: the silent budget-killer.
January 7, 2003... Sources: (CFO.com Article, Computerworld Article, Darwin Magazine Article, ZDNet UK Article) Ever heard that tired old line about how we humans only use 10 percent of our brain's true capacity? Well, shelfware is something like that, and...

Get the upper hand on ARP spoofing.
January 7, 2003... Sources: (Chocobospore White Paper, InformIT Article, XS4ALL Article) A little-known but highly dangerous hacking method called "ARP spoofing" can allow intruders to view anything you send or receive from your computer. Worse yet, these...

Battling burnout.
January 7, 2003... Sources: (Inc.com Article, ITworld Article, JS Online Article, Mind Tools Article, TechRepublic Article) Workers in the IT industry suffer a high rate of burnout, more than most other professions. Use this article to find out ways of...

My computer hears voices.
January 7, 2003... Sources: (CNET.com Web Site, ConsumerSearch Article, PC Magazine Article) People talking to computers as naturally as they would to another human is still in the realm of Star Trek. However, voice recognition software (VRS) continues to...

Meetings for all occasions.
January 7, 2003... Sources: (Alessandra.com Report, Association of Information Technology Professionals Manual, Info-Tech Decision Guide, TechRepublic Article) An in-person meeting is preferred by many simply because it is the one type people are most...

Hogtie bandwidth pigs.
January 7, 2003... Sources: (Cable-Modems.Org Article, CED Magazine Articles, Computerworld Article) Chances are gluttonous bandwidth consumption is rampant in your company. A user who downloads 50 gigabytes over the course of a month has transferred the...

Everything is coming up ROSI.
January 7, 2003... Sources: (CIO Magazine Articles, CSO Magazine Feature, Datamation Article, Ernst & Young Presentation, Infinity Technology Article, Information Security Magazine Column) Security is one of the few areas of IT spending likely to increase in...

See how your bandwidth measures up.
January 7, 2003... Sources: (CNET.com Internet Services Web Site) Okay, so you have a T1 connection to the Internet through a Digital Subscriber Line (DSL). That's what it says on paper. Have you ever wondered how fast your connection really is? CNET has...

A blueprint for your data center.
January 7, 2003... Sources: (Microsoft TechNet Web Site, Sun Microsystems Web Site) Your IT infrastructure needs are increasing. As the number of servers grows, you realize that you need a full-blown data center to manage your organization's needs. Where do...

Developer's choice for best products.
January 7, 2003... Sources: (Developer.com Article) The beginning of a new year is always a time for computer magazines to run annual "best product of the year" awards. For those who do software development, Developer.com has Product of the Year Award...

Tips for selecting offshore software vendors.
January 7, 2003... Sources: (Datamation Article) The prospect of big money savings is prompting more and more organizations to look at offshore companies for software development. However, potential cost savings from getting certain programming skills at a...

Determine IT project value.
January 7, 2003... Sources: (CIO Insight Article) The project is cool. The project is right. But will the project yield the kind of value that will satisfy the company bean counters, especially in tough economic times? CIO Insight can help you find out. ...

Block spam at the server level.
January 7, 2003... Sources: (GFI Software) As the battle against spam escalates, so too do the products offered to fight these unwanted e-mails. GFI MailEssentials from GFI Software helps fight spam by blocking it at the server level. Rather than eliminating...

PenJammer helps you learn Graffiti.
January 7, 2003... Sources: (Ironwheel Works, Inc.) A lot of people buy handheld devices, only to become jaded about having to learn Graffiti for data input. Graffiti only recognizes figures that consist of a single stroke, as drawn by a stylus on the PDA's...

An nGenius SAN optimizer.
January 7, 2003... Sources: (NetScout Systems, Inc.) The nGenius Performance Manager from NetScout is a performance optimizer for Fibre Channel storage area networks (SANs). nGenius addresses traffic flow problems in multivendor SAN environments by...

Micro-portable projector.
January 7, 2003... Sources: (Dell) Every boardroom needs a high-definition projector for PowerPoint presentations, slide shows, and any other displays required for high-powered meetings. New from Dell, the 3200MP micro-portable projector uses...

Retrieve files at rocket speed.
January 7, 2003... Sources: (Pankhurst Algorithmics) From Pankhurst Algorithmics, the Rocket Retriever 2 utility lets you find a Windows file as fast as you can type its name. As you enter each letter into this C++ search application, it filters down through...

Get "on-call" expectations in writing.
January 21, 2003... Sources: (BostonWorks.com Article, GartnerGroup Article, N.E. Fried and Associates Article) Being "on-call" is a common practice in IT circles. With 24/7 uptime now requisite in most companies, having "on-call" employees when emergencies...

No time for testing? Think outsourcing.
January 21, 2003... Sources: (StickyMinds.com Articles) Testing is a critical phase of software development that is frequently given short shrift since it's seen as a drain on time, money, and effort. However, even a simple code inspection can eliminate up to...

IP-KVM for the armchair admin.
January 21, 2003... Sources: (Avocent White Papers, SearchNetworking.com Article, Serverworld Magazine Article) IT departments are constantly under pressure to find ways to save money. One option worth looking into is IP-based KVM networking technology for IT...

Is your database a sitting fuck? Encrypt it!
January 21, 2003... Sources: (Advisor Magazine Article, Application Security Inc. White Paper, Cryptonomicon.net Article, nCipher Article, RSA Security White Paper) Most companies know that sensitive data traveling between an application and a database should...

Regulate remote users with this policy.
January 21, 2003... Sources: (Georgia State University Web Site, Network Magazine Article, SANS Institute Policy) Performing work duties off-site is convenient and productive, but employees need access to network resources from remote locations. This poses a...

Helper chips speed up networked storage.
January 21, 2003... Sources: (Computer Technology News Article, Network World Fusion Articles) If you are looking at delivering high-powered Internet-based services--such as an IP-based storage area network (SAN)--via Gigabit Ethernet, Transport Offload...

Wrangling wicked warranties.
January 21, 2003... Sources: (Digit Article, GigaLaw.com Article, MD net guide Article, SunSpot.net Article, The PC Guide Article) Nearly every IT product you buy comes with some sort of warranty. A warranty is basically a promise from a company that its...

Cloak your IDS and protect performance.
January 21, 2003... Sources: (Network World Fusion Article, SANS Institute Articles, Security Focus Articles) Add stealth monitoring capability to your network with a network tap. With a network tap, a monitoring device-particularly an intrusion detection...

Shedding some light on LAMP.
January 21, 2003... Sources: (InternetWeek.com Article, LinuxSecurity.com Article, TheOpenEnterprise.com Articles, ZDNet Australia Article) If you have never heard of LAMP, you'll definitely be hearing more about it in the year to come. Understand what LAMP is...

How to write a user manual.
January 21, 2003... Sources: (Developer Shed Articles) Whether an application works, and whether it can be used, are not the same things. The former is normally the primary concern of your developer, but the latter is crucial to the success of the project....

Guide to online advertising and promotion.
January 21, 2003... Sources: (Marketing Magazine Web Site) While the advertising and promotional potential of a media as broadly viewed and used as the Internet is widely recognized, tapping that potential has proved far from simple. Marketing Magazine has...

Comparison of hands-on database managers.
January 21, 2003... Sources: (PC Magazine Article) The term "database management" often conjures up the image of large-scale enterprise application development carried out by experts. But a database manager can also be a desktop computing tool that...

Boost Web site performance.
January 21, 2003... Sources: (WebMonkey Tutorial) When everyone had a slow connection to the Internet, having a fast Web site was a ongoing concern. But even in the world of T1 connections, you shouldn't let your site lapse into the realm of bloat. It's time...

Rosetta stone for standards symbols.
January 21, 2003... Sources: (Business 2.0 Article) Pick up your keyboard right now. Flip it over. On the underside of your keyboard you will see a series of standards compliance symbols. You see the same kinds of symbols on the backs of Personal Digital...

Top picks from CES Las Vegas.
January 21, 2003... Sources: (PCWorld.com, ExtremeTech, CNET.com) The International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) rivals Comdex for highlighting new products and gadgetry: this year's show in Las Vegas was no exception. If you are looking for information on...

Print around the world.
January 21, 2003... Sources: (Net2Printer, Inc.) Many business functions are performed over the Internet, and now printing can be done through the Web as well. Net2Printer's Print2Anywhere application allows users to print documents remotely on any printer...

A mechanic for your PC.
January 21, 2003... Sources: (Iolo Technologies) Fixing problems on your PC can be done a whole lot easier with the help of a PC general utility application. System Mechanic from Iolo Technologies contains a set of 15 tools for correcting glitches on PCs...

Make VoIP sing with Tenor.
January 21, 2003... Sources: (Quintum Technologies, Inc.) Quintum Technologies' Tenor VoIP MultiPath Switch is designed to swap voice calls from IP networks to plain old telephone service (POTS) when poor network conditions affect call quality. The Tolly Group...

Secure XML traffic.
January 21, 2003... Sources: (Vordel) Web services are gaining speed for optimizing business processes on the Internet, yet all that sensitive XML data is still prone to attack. To help mitigate this risk, Vordel has released the latest version of its XML...