InfoWorld.com articles from November 2008

InfoWorld.com archives from November 2008

You don't know tech: The InfoWorld news quiz; Match your weekly tech news wits against our snarky quiz master.
November 3, 2008... Byline: Dan Tynan Scary times indeed. This Halloween you may encounter a few real zombies -- like financial pros shell-shocked by continuing economic turmoil or presidential campaigners nearing the end of their tether. But the news isn't...

SOA growth projections shrinking; Gartner finds for the first time in five years of surveying that fewer companies have plans to move forward with SOA.
November 3, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill SOA adoption has hit a bump in the road, according to survey detailed by Gartner on Monday. The number of organizations planning to adopt SOA for the first time decreased to 25 percent; it had been 53 percent in last...

Test Center review: Deep dive into SQL Server 2008; Microsoft's 'Katmai' is packed with performance and management features enterprises will love, and even small shops will have reasons to make the upgrade.
November 3, 2008... Byline: Sean McCown SQL Server 2008, aka "Katmai," gives SQL Server shops plenty of reasons to get excited. The best SQL Server release to date, it sports more nice new features than you can count, and the improvements extend to both...

If Windows is a dead end, what's next? Windows 7 looks like lipstick on the Vista pig. Maybe it's time to contemplate the PC after Windows.
November 4, 2008... Byline: Galen Gruman The writing is on the wall. Despite a major push to sell the much-maligned Windows Vista, customers aren't buying. Nearly two years after Vista's release, Windows XP remains the standard desktop OS in business, and...

Multicore: New chips mean new challenges for developers; More and more help is available so developers can write apps for the new-generation chips.
November 4, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill With the advent of multicore processors such as the Intel Core Duo, which is now commonplace in PCs, software developers must deal with a new wrinkle -- getting software to be processed across multiple cores -- in order...

Komodo IDE for dynamic languages gets faster; ActiveState's updated IDE is based on Mozilla 1.9 code base.
November 4, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill ActiveState Software on Tuesday is releasing Version 5.0 of its Komodo IDE for dynamic languages, offering more speed, more support for distributed version control systems, and improved code-sharing across a team. ...

Kapow mashup server adds management integrations; Kapow forges links with platforms like HP OpenView; RSS and AJAX capabilities are enhanced as well.
November 5, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Kapow Technologies is adding enterprise management backing and enhanced RSS and AJAX capabilities to its mashup server technology. The Kapow Mashup Server is for building data feeds and services to be fed to a...

Microsoft launches BizSpark to boost Azure; The BizSpark program for entrepreneurs provides software and services to Web startups.
November 5, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Looking to boost Web-based ventures and its new Windows Azure cloud services platform, Microsoft on Wednesday is announcing Microsoft BizSpark, a program providing software and services to startups. "The cornerstone...

Test Center review: MacBook Pro is built to last; If the unibody MacBook Pro were a car, it would be an eight-cylinder, hybrid, luxury SUV with full body armor.
November 5, 2008... Byline: Tom Yager Apple has done a complete and meaningful redesign of its top-selling commercial notebook, the MacBook Pro, for durability, serviceability, energy efficiency, and eco-consciousness. A one-piece, rigid, machined aluminum...

Making sense of Microsoft's Azure; What app developers and enterprises need to know before signing up for Microsoft's cloud platform.
November 6, 2008... Byline: David Strom Last week, Microsoft announced its cloud-computing effort, called Azure. Fitting between Google's and Amazon.com's current offerings, it represents a very big step toward moving applications off the desktop and out of a...

Why traditional security doesn't work for SOA; SOA's strengths turn out to be highly exploitable entry points for attackers.
November 6, 2008... Byline: Chris Clark Many organizations are embracing SOA as a way to increase application flexibility, make integration more manageable, lower development costs, and better align technology systems to business processes. The appeal of SOA...

You don't know tech: The InfoWorld news quiz; Match your weekly tech news wits against our snarky quiz master.(Website overview)
November 7, 2008... Byline: Dan Tynan Election fever has finally broken, and now we're all just exhausted and sweaty. As the New Era dawns, though, technology is more important than ever. What is the name of Obama's new Web site? Who are Apple and IBM...

Microsoft's openness stressed; Microsoft's numerous accommodations, with products such as the company's M modeling language, cited by executive at ApacheCon conference.(Conference news)
November 7, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Expressing a now-familiar theme, a Microsoft executive at the ApacheCon conference on Friday morning touted Microsoft's efforts to be more open, highlighting moves such as offering the company's "M" modeling language...

You don't know tech: The InfoWorld news quiz; Match your weekly tech news wits against our snarky quiz master.(Website overview)
November 10, 2008... Byline: Dan Tynan Election fever has finally broken, and now we're all just exhausted and sweaty. As the New Era dawns, though, technology is more important than ever. What is the name of Obama's new Web site? Who are Apple and IBM...

Find out if your PC can run Windows 7; InfoWorld releases a free tool so that you can check your system's Windows 7 compatibility, a well as monitor your PC's performance in other areas.
November 10, 2008... Byline: Randall C. Kennedy Windows 7 is coming. Will your PC be ready? InfoWorld's Windows 7 compatibility calculator, a feature in the free Windows Sentinel PC monitoring tool, will tell you. Note that we've based our Windows 7...

Microsoft eyes Visual Studio advancements; Windows Presentation Foundation-based editor among many improvements planned for the development environment.
November 10, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Microsoft's Visual Studio software development system is getting a makeover. With the planned Visual Studio 2010 software development environment, Microsoft intends to offer a new editor based on the company's...

RapidMind, JetBrains boost developer wares; RapidMind's adoption of LLVM and the OpenCL standard will enhance parallel programming, while JetBrains upgraded its Java IDE.
November 10, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill RapidMind and JetBrains are, respectively, boosting products for parallel programming and Java, with RapidMind adding standards support and JetBrains emphasizing SQL capabilities. RapidMind said Monday it is using...

Yahoo adds to BrowserPlus Web technology; Uploading and desktop notifications get enhanced in Yahoo's framework for Web app development.
November 10, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Yahoo has released an advanced version of its BrowserPlus Web development technology, enabling developers to use it on their own Web sites for better in-browser uploading and desktop notifications. BrowserPlus offers...

Test Center benchmarks: Windows 7 unmasked; Measured by runtime specs and performance benchmarks, Windows 7 M3 looks like Vista, and it runs like Vista. Welcome to Windows Vista R2!(Conference notes)
November 10, 2008... Byline: Randall C. Kennedy It's here! After months of speculation, Windows 7 was finally unveiled last month at Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference (PDC). Through a series of well-orchestrated keynote presentations and...

Is our Internet future in danger? Signs point to a bandwidth shortage, and avoiding that may mean you'll pay more for broadband usage.
November 11, 2008... Byline: Galen Gruman, Tom Kaneshige The digital Disneyland of the future -- where we freely work and play online -- may be at risk. Why? Because, some argue, broadband carriers can't support it. The Internet's "free ride" culture has led...

Test Center review: Specialty Linuxes to the rescue; Six sweet distributions that can boot from a pen drive, run in a sliver of RAM, rejuvenate an old system, or recover data from a dead PC.
November 11, 2008... Byline: Rick Grehan Linux is, among other things, a customizable operating system. Clever developers can craft a Linux whose kernel and packages are configured for a specific purpose, to serve as a sort of vertical-market operating system....

The 2009 IT career survival guide; Economic uncertainty, offshoring, and increased pressure on IT require tech workers to take control of their destinies.
November 12, 2008... Byline: Galen Gruman The economy is in trouble -- everywhere. Even outsourced providers are nervous. Already under stress, IT staffers see their jobs getting more and more difficult as they must do more with less, all while wondering if...

New regulations will soon swell IT workloads; Government's response to the financial meltdown will require major tech initiatives for compliance, despite the recession's cutbacks.
November 12, 2008... Byline: Ephraim Schwartz The financial meltdown, fueled by a decade of exotic financing mechanisms that some say were designed to hide risk and pass it on to unwary buyers, will have a major impact on IT budgets, personnel, and reporting...

Sonatype forges ahead with Maven tools; Repository assistant, Eclipse linkage readied for the company's popular Java build manager.
November 12, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Sonatype is moving forward with commercial products augmenting the open-source Apache Maven build manager for Java, readying a repository manager and a product linking Maven to the Eclipse IDE. Headed by CEO Mark de...

You don't know tech: The InfoWorld news quiz; Match your weekly tech news wits against our snarky quiz master.
November 14, 2008... Byline: Dan Tynan Election fervor has calmed down, and the economy is melting down. Are you down with the latest in high tech? This week's quiz ranges from new Sony handsets to new Live services from Microsoft. Also: A spam-friendly ISP...

Citrix developing XenApps and XenDesktop for the iPhone; Users will gain access to all Windows apps via Citrix's client and server software.
November 14, 2008... Byline: Ephraim Schwartz By the first half of 2009, Citrix will make its XenDesktop and XenApp client and server software for remote access to Windows applications available for the iPhone. "We expect to have it sooner rather than...

You don't know tech: The InfoWorld news quiz; Match your weekly tech news wits against our snarky quiz master.
November 17, 2008... Byline: Dan Tynan Election fervor has calmed down, and the economy is melting down. Are you down with the latest in high tech? This week's quiz ranges from new Sony handsets to new Live services from Microsoft. Also: A spam-friendly ISP...

Accenture topples communication barriers; 2008 InfoWorld 100 finalist: Services firm deploys telepresence, VoIP, and videoconferencing to help globally dispersed workforce collaborate face-to-face.
November 17, 2008... Byline: Ted Samson Proximity gives coworkers the ability to easily engage one another in productive, face-to-face meetings at the drop of a hat. But what happens when you work in New York and your coworker is based in Chicago, or Los...

Centralized IT pays off for ADP; 2008 InfoWorld 100 finalist: Payroll and HR services firm consolidates IT operations to achieve resiliency -- and significant savings.
November 17, 2008... Byline: Curtis Franklin Jr. When you've built a $9 billion business fulfilling the payroll and HR needs of more than half a million clients, your own needs can get lost in the shuffle. For ADP, IT efficiency is essential. That's why the...

BlueStar sparks energy services with SOA; 2008 InfoWorld 100 finalist: Retail supplier seizes opportunity with infrastructure built for change.
November 17, 2008... Byline: Doug Dineley These days, the electrical power business has taken on a complexity akin to that of commodities trading. Deregulation, alternate energy sources, and customers seeking protection from rising prices have opened a world...

IT delivers optimal route for Con-way; 2008 InfoWorld 100 finalist: Freight carrier turns to IT to cut down forklift use and keep shipments on time.
November 17, 2008... Byline: Ephraim Schwartz To hear Jackie Barretta, CIO of Con-way, tell it, the freight carrier's strength is in its on-time performance. "When we say it will get there in this amount of time, it will get there," Barretta says. But...

Direct Energy mines BI to conserve revenue streams; 2008 InfoWorld 100 finalist: Business intelligence gives energy services firm the tools to forecast and reduce customer churn and bad debt.
November 17, 2008... Byline: Tom Sullivan Even before bad debt shook the mortgage industry, Direct Energy was feeling its effects, including eroding revenue streams due to customer churn. Until, that is, the company effectively mined its way out in the best...

Global VoIP keeps Eaton connected; 2008 InfoWorld 100 finalist: Diversified manufacturing firm cuts down cost of communication with voice-enabled global area network.
November 17, 2008... Byline: Ephraim Schwartz Acquire 35 companies in five years, and you will quickly see the need to reduce the cost of communication across your entire organization. That is what diversified manufacturing firm Eaton came to realize in...

Old code proves key to modern IT at Midland; 2008 InfoWorld 100 finalist: Hospital adopts and adapts 30-year-old code to establish award-winning automated records system.
November 17, 2008... Byline: Tom Kaneshige In times of financial crisis, it pays -- or, more fittingly, saves -- to explore unconventional ways to pull off major technology projects. For Midland Memorial Hospital, this came in the form of 1970s-era code...

Morgan Keegan invests in resilience; 2008 InfoWorld 100 finalist: To gird against downtime, financial services firm rearchitected resiliency into its systems, building a MAN from the ground up.
November 17, 2008... Byline: Tom Sullivan For Morgan Keegan, the dire events of Sept. 11 drove home the importance of resiliency in advance of disaster. Inspired by those who rallied toward recovery in the immediate aftermath, and aware of the importance of...

Qualcomm reaches for the clouds; 2008 InfoWorld 100 finalist: Virtualization positions mobile juggernaut for next-gen cloud architecture.
November 17, 2008... Byline: Doug Dineley Many companies have implemented virtualization to reduce their physical server infrastructure, free up precious datacenter space, reduce power requirements, and make server management more flexible, but few adopted...

Wells Fargo banks on next-generation ATMs; 2008 InfoWorld 100 finalist: Financial institution increases the value of self-service banking with ATM face-lift.
November 17, 2008... Byline: Tom Kaneshige Among technology projects green-lit in a shaky economy, perhaps none are more important than customer-facing ones. After all, customer retention is essential in tough times, and it's often a customer-focused...

Adobe taps ARM, Qualcomm for mobile Flash; The rich Internet technology is extending into the mobile realm, where Flash's installed base surpasses that of the desktop.
November 17, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Adobe Systems's Flash multimedia content platform usually is associated with desktop systems accessing Web applications. But that is changing, according to an Adobe official. The company at the Adobe Max 2008...

Coverity assists software architects; The Coverity Architecture Analyzer makes sure that developers designs are implemented properly and securely.
November 17, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Coverity is shipping its Coverity Architecture Analyzer software to help software architects ensure that their intended designs are implemented. The product is intended to address a situation in which developers,...

Why developers prefer Macs; Apple systems have become the tools of choice for coders of all kinds, but not without a few aches and pains.
November 17, 2008... Byline: Peter Wayner When Terry Weaver wants to create .Net applications, he fires up Visual Studio and types away like any other .Net programmer. The setup gets a bit weird when he wants to test how the .Net application might appear to a...

The Microsoft-Novell Linux deal: Two years later; The controversial arrangement over open source and Windows still creates strong feelings, pro and con.
November 18, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Two years ago this month, Microsoft forged its controversial partnership with Novell that, among other things, had the two companies agreeing not to sue each other over intellectual property issues, in part to protect...

Adobe accommodates Visual Studio, Eclipse; Latest developments with Flex, ColdFusion, and other technologies aired at conference.
November 18, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Adobe Systems at its Adobe Max 2008 conference Tuesday heralded a slew of new technologies, including links between its Flex application development platform and Microsoft's Visual Studio software development platform....

JavaFX RIA technology almost ready; General-release versions of JavaFX Desktop and JavaFX Script are due by the end of the year, and Sun officials say Java business is profitable.
November 18, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill JavaFX, Sun Microsystems' entrant in the RIA (rich Internet application) space, is nearly ready for prime time, and by the way, the company is making money off of Java, company officials said Monday afternoon at the...

Test Center review: Silverlight, for real this time; Microsoft's RIA framework offers client-side programming with .Net languages and tools, plus high performance.
November 18, 2008... Byline: Martin Heller Microsoft's answer to Adobe Flash and Flex and several other RIA (rich Internet application) and AJAX frameworks, Silverlight arrived with a flourish just over one year ago. Silverlight 1.0 (see my October 2007...

Five top spending priorities for hard times; Which areas of IT spending will get funded when money is tight? We roll together projections from Forrester, Gartner, and IDC with answers from real-world CIOs.
November 19, 2008... Byline: Tom Sullivan No company is immune from the economy's ebb and flow. So it's no surprise that, in the face of a fearsome downturn, IT shops are scrambling to figure out where they should cut. The big three analyst firms --...

Microsoft, Novell eye Moonlight beta, system management; The Moonlight beta will put Microsoft's Silverlight on Linux, and the Advanced Management Pack enables management of Windows and Linux servers from a single console.
November 19, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Marking the two-year anniversary of their controversial interoperability agreement, Microsoft and Novell this week are announcing upcoming availability of both the beta version of Moonlight, which puts Microsoft's...

Ruby hailed as economic solution, offering smaller investment and less risk; Rails and Merb frameworks also highlighted at QCon conference.(Conference notes)
November 19, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Advocates for the Ruby programming language on Wednesday hailed its usefulness as an enterprise application development option, especially in a down economy. The Merb framework for Ruby also was championed, during a...

Toshiba sets high storage capacity for small drives; A 2.5-inch half-terabyte hard drive will ship to OEMs for game consoles and sub-notebooks in December.
November 19, 2008... Byline: Ephraim Schwartz Toshiba Storage Division announced a breakthrough half-terabyte hard disk drive in a 2.5-inch form factor on Wednesday. The mini-drive is targeted for inclusion in mobile devices by OEMs. The high-capacity...

Zend adds Flash links to PHP; Zend Framework 1.7 upgrade also boosts performance.
November 19, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Concentrating on rich Internet applications, Zend Technologies is backing Adobe's Action Message Format (AMF) in Zend Framework 1.7. Version 1.7 is the latest release of the company's framework for building PHP Web...

A future without programming; Code-free application builders allow business people to take development into their own hands. Where does that leave the coders?
November 20, 2008... Byline: Tom Kaneshige A few years ago, self-proclaimed nondeveloper Kevin Smith worked for a software company that tried to build a project tracking tool using Microsoft .Net. Some 15 developers spent a year with little success. "After...

Sun receives complaint about Java vetting process; Official cites unnamed company's concern that the JCP's results may not be legally pure.
November 20, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Sun Microsystems has heard from a company concerned about the vetting process of Java and open source, a Sun official said on Wednesday. Lawyers for the concerned company said they cannot be sure the results of the...

You don't know tech: The InfoWorld news quiz; Match your weekly tech news wits against our snarky quiz master.
November 21, 2008... Byline: Dan Tynan New leaders arrive, old ones leave -- sometimes by the back door in the dead of night. And so it goes with this week's quiz, as the country gets to know a new president elect, a longtime senator says adios, and Yahoo...

Nokia offers vision for services, applications; Focus on Internet services, next-gen wireless technology, and mobile app dev.
November 21, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Seeking to bridge "the now to the next," Nokia has set its sights on Internet services, next-generation wireless technology, and mobile application development. Among the company's efforts include the impending beta...

Ruby on Rails upgrade released; Popular Web framework gets improved support for HTTP validators as well as an internalization framework.
November 21, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Ruby on Rails 2.2, an upgrade to the popular Web application framework, was released Friday, featuring an internationalization framework and stronger support for HTTP validators, according to the Ruby on Rails Web site....

Sun, Microsoft boost IDEs; NetBeans is upgraded to include retooling for PHP and an early access version of NetBeans for Pythin, while Visual Studio adds jQuery capabilities.
November 21, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill In separate moves this week, Sun and Microsoft both proceeded with previously stated plans to boost their software development environments Version 6.5 of the NetBeans open source IDE was released by Sun and the...

You don't know tech: The InfoWorld news quiz; Match your weekly tech news wits against our snarky quiz master.
November 24, 2008... Byline: Dan Tynan New leaders arrive, old ones leave -- sometimes by the back door in the dead of night. And so it goes with this week's quiz, as the country gets to know a new president elect, a longtime senator says adios, and Yahoo...

Hot tech certifications in a cool job market; Not all credentials will boost your career, so in tough times you have to choose wisely.
November 24, 2008... Byline: Tom Kaneshige If the doomsayers prove right, throngs of laid-off tech workers will soon be competing for only a handful of available jobs. Technical certifications, once thought to be the ticket to higher pay and more prestige, may...

Vendors air the cloud's pros and cons; Officials weighed the cloud's economic benefits as well as the security and standardization concerns at the Cloud Computing Conference and Expo.
November 24, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Industry officials promoted the benefits but also noted the challenges posed by cloud computing at the Cloud Computing Conference & Expo conference last Friday afternoon, citing economics as a plus for the concept and...

Killer open source monitoring tools; If you run a network, you should be running these free utilities.
November 24, 2008... Byline: Paul Venezia In the real estate world, the mantra is location, location, location. In the network and server administration world, the mantra is visibility, visibility, visibility. If you don't know what your network and servers...

Why XBRL is good, mandate or no; The XML-based financial reporting standard could help IT streamline messy financial processes.
November 25, 2008... Byline: Ephraim Schwartz Like any government mandate, the SEC's requirement to use XBRL (Extensible Business Reporting Language) in public companies' financial reports cannot be ignored. However, along with the government stick comes a...

The XBRL mandate is here: Is IT ready? The first stage of the reporting requirement isn't tech-heavy, but IT's involvement will need to grow.
November 25, 2008... Byline: Ephraim Schwartz Given all the pressures IT is under, another compliance initiative may seem to be one too many. There is such a mandate: to submit financial reports using XBRL (Extensible Business Reporting Language) tags. How...

Test Center review: BlackBerry Storm bridges business and lifestyle; The first touchscreen BlackBerry pairs RIM's familiar enterprise strengths with superior ease of use, but Wi-Fi goes missing.
November 25, 2008... Byline: Tom Yager The new BlackBerry 9530, commonly called the Blackberry Storm, has the familiar fingertip navigation and flick-to-scroll gesture common to most widescreen phones. Apart from that, the BlackBerry Storm is very much its own...

Vintage geek gift guide; Got a vintage geek in your life? They don't want an iPhone for the holidays. What they really crave is cutting-edge 1970s technology.
November 26, 2008... Byline: David L. Margulius In case you haven't noticed, vintage is hot right now. Vinyl records are making a comeback, vintage clothing stores are booming, and midcentury (1950s and '60s) decor is all the rage (see "Mad Men" on TV). ...

Embarcadero adds visual capabilities to data modeling tool; The ER/Studio 8.0 tool features Visual Data Lineage, which addresses data-tracing, compliance initiatives, and audits and can help solve business issues around data integration.
November 26, 2008... Byline: Paul Krill Embarcadero Technologies will unveil next week an upgrade to its ER/Studio data modeling tool, featuring visual representations of where data resides and how it has changed. ER/Studio 8.0 offers a model-driven...

Test Center review: AT&T Fuze sparks Windows Mobile; The AT&T-branded HTC Touch Pro smartens up the Windows phone with an expansive touch display, full keypad, and 3-D interface.
November 26, 2008... Byline: Mike Heck If you're ready for a Windows Mobile smartphone with a large, VGA (480 by 640 pixels) display, slide-out QWERTY keyboard, and quad-band radios for worldwide use, the Fuze is an excellent option. Thanks to the Fuze's...

The 2008 geek gadget gift guide; You won't find these items for true techies at Best Buy or RadioShack.
November 27, 2008... Byline: Galen Gruman Whether waiting for the Thanksgiving meal or basking in its tryptophan-induced afterglow, the thoughts of your favorite geek (who could be you!) inevitably turn to gadgets, dancing like sugar plums in his or her...

The 2008 geek gadget gift guide: DIY Plant Twitter Kit; A cool kit to build networked sensors that help keep your plants alive.
November 27, 2008... Byline: Galen Gruman Why you must have it: You're busy, and your plants are getting thirstier and thirstier as you neglect them. What if they could let you know they need water? With Botanicalls' DIY Plant Twitter Kit, they can. When...

The 2008 geek gadget gift guide: Eye-Fi Explore; Upload photos wirelessly straight to the Web from almost any digital camera.
November 27, 2008... Byline: Galen Gruman Why you must have it: You're shooting photos on your digital camera, but no one can see them until you get back to your Internet-connected computer. The Eye-Fi Explore changes that, using an embedded Wi-Fi radio in the...

The 2008 geek gadget gift guide: Gatekeeper Pico; Get rid of resource-sapping anti-malware software by using this USB token instead.
November 27, 2008... Byline: Galen Gruman Why you must have it: Anti-malware software is annoying, what with all those alert pop-ups. Plus, it gobbles PC resources that would be better spent running a mobile simulator or 3-D game. So InfoWorld CTO Council...

2008 geek gadget gift guide: GTX 200 Waterblock; Don't let your superhot graphics card overheat.
November 27, 2008... Byline: Galen Gruman Why you must have it: Your PC is tricked out with the ultimate graphics card, the EVGA GeForce GTX 260 or 280, using every one of those 500 watts in your monster power supply. But does that card get superhot, radiating...

The 2008 geek gadget gift guide: Gyroxus Game Chair; Get physically into the game with this full-motion chair.
November 27, 2008... Byline: Galen Gruman Why you must have it: Sitting in your chair playing games is absorbing, no doubt, but if you've been to Disneyland or a similar theme park, you know you're missing the dimension of motion. No matter how much the game...

The 2008 geek gadget gift guide: iWow for iPod Adapter; Audiophiles: Get better sound through this iPod add-on.
November 27, 2008... Byline: Galen Gruman Why you must have it: The iPod is quickly becoming the modern stereo, but its digitized files often lack the nuance of the original recordings. SRS Labs' iWow for iPod Adapter plugs into the iPod's bottom 30-pin...

The 2008 geek gadget gift guide: MvixBox; The ultimate home theater needs a first-class media server.
November 27, 2008... Byline: Galen Gruman Why you must have it: Geeks and home theaters are a natural combination, especially when they can throw a PC in the mix. MvixUSA's MvixBox is a Linux server that InfoWorld Test Center contributing editor Mike Heck...

The geek gadget gift guide: Nixie Watch; Head back to the 1960s' tech roots with this retro timepiece.
November 27, 2008... Byline: Galen Gruman Why you must have it: If you remember the 1960s, you'll recall those bulky neon display tubes once used in calculators. The Nixie Watch from Cathode Corner uses those quaint tubes to display the time on a large,...

The 2008 geek gadget gift guide: SkyV; Stuck in the basement? You can still get a skylight for a more pleasant environment.
November 27, 2008... Byline: Galen Gruman Why you must have it: The cold glow of an LCD monitor doesn't exactly give you the mental health benefits of real windows, something that most geeks only experience in their cars. After all, datacenters, development...

The 2008 geek gadget gift guide: Time Capsule; Wireless backup, wireless routing, and peripheral sharing, all in one.
November 27, 2008... Byline: Galen Gruman Why you must have it: With all the computing devices we have on hand, managing backups and communications among them is increasingly difficult. InfoWorld Test Center contributing editor Stephen Hultquist recommends...

Test Center gift guide to mobile devices; Looking for a snazzy new handheld to surf the Web, do e-mail, and run apps? Start here.
November 27, 2008... Byline: InfoWorld Test Center staff The iPhone started it, but everyone and his brother now seem to have a fancy smartphone on offer. If it's time to join the "mobile 2.0" generation, the InfoWorld Test Center can help you make the right...

You don't know tech: The InfoWorld news quiz; Match your weekly tech news wits against our snarky quiz master.
November 28, 2008... Byline: Dan Tynan There are plenty of folks who feel a bit more thankful this week, like Connecticut schoolteacher Julie Amero and Facebook fans who hate spam. Somewhat less thankful: nosy ex-Verizon employees, SCO, Chinese censors, and...