Computerworld articles from May 2007

Computerworld archives from May 2007

Revolt against Digg tests user content model: 'Internet riot' forces Web site to stop deleting posts containing software key.(NEWS)
May 7, 2007... Digg Inc., which operates a news aggregation Web site that lets users determine the placement of stories through voting, last week found itself at the center of what some analysts and academics are calling a test case on who has control over...

IT managers face crunch in filling open positions: execs, recruiters say rising demand for tech workers is making hiring harder.(NEWS)
May 7, 2007... Last month, Timothy Ramsay, assistant vice president of computer and network services at the University of Miami, filled a security manager position. But it took a yearlong search and a 30% increase in pay over the original offer. Ramsay...

Dell mulls layoffs to boost business.(AT DEADLINE)(Michael Dell)(Brief article)
May 7, 2007... Michael Dell is considering layoffs and acquisitions at Dell Inc., according to a memo he sent to the company's 78,000 employees last month about options to break the company out of its business doldrums. Dell said that the company could even...

AMD unveils chips for mobile systems.(Advanced Micro Devices Inc.)(Brief article)
May 7, 2007... Advanced Micro Devices Inc. has introduced a new chip set for mobile computing on wireless networks, preempting Intel Corp.'s expected unveiling of the next version of the Centrino chip, code-named Santa Rosa, this week. AMD has begun shipping...

Intel to cut 1,000 jobs in New Mexico.(AT DEADLINE)(Brief article)
May 7, 2007... Intel Corp. plans to lay off as many as 1,000 workers when it stops producing flash memory chips in August at a fabrication plant in New Mexico. Intel has come under pressure from Wall Street analysts to improve conditions in its flash memory...

Congress passes antispyware bill.(AT DEADLINE)(Brief article)
May 7, 2007... The U.S. House Judiciary Committee has passed an antispyware bill that would make it a criminal offense to place unauthorized code on a computer and use it to obtain or transmit personal information or to impair a system's security protections....

Microsoft to let partners guide users to Silverlight: vendor won't bundle Flash rival, hopes users will download tool 'voluntarily'.(NEWS)
May 7, 2007... AS PART of its foray into the Web design tools market, Microsoft Corp. is eschewing its usual tactics for encouraging--or, as many of the company's critics would put it, strong-arming--end users to adopt its technology. Microsoft isn't...

Dell to ship systems based on Ubuntu.(Brief article)
May 7, 2007... Dell Inc. has confirmed that it will preinstall the Ubuntu distribution of the Linux operating system on some of its computers. Canonical Ltd., the commercial sponsor of the Ubuntu project, will certify the Dell models that are preinstalled...

Google responds to $1B Viacom lawsuit.(Brief article)
May 7, 2007... Google Inc. has rejected claims that it enables copyright infringement on its YouTube.com Web site. It's the company's first response to a $1 billion lawsuit filed against it in March by Viacom Inc. In documents filed in federal court, Google...

CSC to purchase Covansys for $1.3B.(Computer Sciences Corp.)(Brief article)
May 7, 2007... Computer Sciences Corp. last week agreed to buy Covansys Corp., a technology consulting and services firm, for $1.3 billion. Covansys has a workforce of about 9,000 employees worldwide, including 6,400 in India, where CSC is looking to boost...

Yahoo agrees to buy rest of Right Media.(Brief article)
May 7, 2007... Yahoo Inc. has agreed to become the sole owner of Right Media Inc. by buying the 80% of the online advertising exchange it doesn't own for $680 million in stock and cash. Yahoo had purchased a 20% stake last October for $45 million. Last month,...

Boston hotel is booking thin clients into rooms: the Seaport to use devices for Web access, VoIP calls.(NEWS)
May 7, 2007... JOHN BURKE, vice president of technology at the Seaport Hotel in Boston, is betting that he is at the forefront of an emerging trend in hospitality services: giving guests a reason to leave their laptops at home. Internet access is now as...

IT shrugs off criticism of dual-purpose RFID label.(NEWS)
May 7, 2007... Checkpoint Systems Inc. last week rolled out a line of RFID-enabled labels with both advanced inventory control and item-tracking capabilities. The Thorofare, N.J.-based company said the dual-purpose label will help retailers consolidate their...

Restaurant chain beefs up payment card protections: Steak n Shake changes security menu to meet heightened PCI requirements.(payment card industry data security standard)
May 7, 2007... In the past, credit and debit card security wasn't a huge concern at The Steak n Shake Co., which operates more than 450 restaurants in the Midwest and Southeast. But it has been a top priority for the chain's IT organization since last August,...

CTO: sun on open-source schedule for Java.(Bob Brewin, chief technology officer at Sun Microsystems Inc.)(Interview)
May 7, 2007... Bob Brewin, software chief technology officer at Sun Microsystems Inc., said the company will discuss the state of its Java open-source efforts and host the first CommunityOne day for open-source and Web developers at the Java-One conference in...

Fred von Lohmann: the attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation talks about the Viacom lawsuit, free speech in the Digital Age and Captain Jean-Luc Picard.(Interview)
May 7, 2007... In March, Viacom International Inc. filed a $1 billion-plus lawsuit against YouTube Inc. parent Google Inc., claiming that YouTube infringed Viacom copyrights by streaming more than 1.5 billion clips of TV shows such as The Colbert Report and...

Tibco to purchase BI vendor for $195M.(Tibco Software Inc. acquires Spotfire Inc.)(Brief article)
May 7, 2007... Tibco Software Inc. plans to acquire business intelligence software vendor Spotfire Inc. for about $195 million. Tibco said it expects to combine its real-time infrastructure software with Spotfire's enterprise analytics system to offer a quick...

BEA blends its Java tool sets.(BEA Systems Inc.)(Brief article)
May 7, 2007... BEA Systems Inc. has introduced a set of development products that melds its open-source and commercial Java tools. The new offering, called Workshop 10.1, combines BEA's Workshop for WebLogic commercial tools and Workshop Studio, an...

Reuters acquires content aggregator.(ClearForest Corp.)(Brief article)
May 7, 2007... In a $25 million deal, Reuters Group PLC acquired ClearForest Corp., an Israeli start-up that makes technology designed to analyze, read and understand large amounts of content from diverse documents. ClearForest has been struggling and laid...

Radware to buy Covelight for $16M.(Covelight Systems Inc.)(Brief article)
May 7, 2007... Radware Ltd. has agreed to acquire Covelight Systems Inc. for $16 million in cash. Radware said it plans to add Covelight's flagship product, Inflight. to its APSolute line of application-delivery tools. Inflight captures detailed business...

Businesses speak English, but ...(ON THE MARK)(GlobalEnglish Corp.'s language teaching software)(Brief article)
May 7, 2007... Businesses Speak English, but... the new global workforce is far from fluent. Last year, India's National Association of Software and Service Companies reported that among the 400,000 engineers who would graduate in that country in 2007, 80%...

Converged communications ...(ON THE MARK)(Smoothstone IP Communications Inc.)(communications as a service)(Brief article)
May 7, 2007... Converged communications... mean you'll outsource more services. Russ Maney, vice president of marketing at Smoothstone IP Communications Inc. in Louisville, Ky., thinks your on-premises communications gear is fast becoming a quaint relic of...

Security is coming ...(ON THE MARK)(ConSentry Networks Inc.'s LANShield Switch)(Brief article)
May 7, 2007... Security is coming... to your network switch. By 2009, all switches will come standard with security features, predicts Tom Barsi, CEO of ConSentry Networks Inc. in Milpitas, Calif. You can get a head start by investing in his company's...

BlackBerry users get cheap ...(ON THE MARK)(MINO Wireless USA Inc.)(international calls get cheap)(Brief article)
May 7, 2007... BlackBerry users get cheap... international calling. As if it weren't already hard enough to pry BlackBerry devices from users' hands, this week MINO Wireless USA Inc. in Sunnyvale, Calif., will debut a service that will let corporate...

Deploy private PC portals ...(ON THE MARK)(GoWare Inc.'s internet access software)(Brief article)
May 7, 2007... Deploy private PC portals... for mobile users. Occasionally, road warriors may tell you that they'd like to access content on their PCs while they're out of the office. One way to deliver it to them is via DoMo, a combination software and...

ESB, SOA keys in airline migration project: mainframe apps to be replaced by vertical packages.(NEWS)(enterprise service bus)(service-oriented architecture)
May 7, 2007... Scandinavian Airlines International (SAS) this month will begin testing new integration technology that it expects will be the centerpiece of an effort to replace more than a dozen homegrown mainframe applications with three commercial software...

Cisco gives IT more control over networks.(NEWS)(Cisco Systems Inc.)
May 7, 2007... Cisco Systems Inc. last week upgraded the lower-end model of the two hardware "brains" sold with its Catalyst 6500 switches, adding new technology designed to give network managers greater control over applications and increased security...

TruEnergy, IBM sign outsourcing deal.(An International IT News Digest)(IBM Australia Ltd.)(Brief article)
May 7, 2007... TRUENERGY LAST week signed a 10-year outsourcing deal with IBM Australia Ltd. The energy company, which is based here, said the deal would likely lead to the layoff of up to 200 IT workers. Under the agreement, St. Leonards-based IBM...

U.K.'s House of Lords probes privacy issues.(An International IT News Digest)(Brief article)
May 7, 2007... THE BRITISH House of Lords Constitution Committee has launched an inquiry into the government's surveillance and data collection techniques. Last month, the committee began a study of how an increased focus on surveillance and data...

Singapore to issue $1.5B in IT contracts.(An International IT News Digest)(Brief article)
May 7, 2007... SINGAPORE'S GOVERNMENT expects to award IT contracts worth up to $2.23 billion Singapore ($1.5 billion U.S.) during the fiscal year that began April 1, as part of an effort to expand the public sector's use of technology. The Infocomm...

Satyam adds Sydney development center.(An International IT News Digest)(Satyam Computer Services Ltd.)(Brief article)
May 7, 2007... INDIAN OUTSOURCER Satyam Computer Services Ltd. has added to its Australian operations by opening a 150-seat development center in North Sydney. Deepak Nangia, Australia and New Zealand country manager for Hyderabad-based Satyam, said that...

IT staffing problems ease in great Britain.(An International IT News Digest)(Brief article)
May 7, 2007... A SHORTAGE OF IT expertise that has plagued U.K. businesses in recent years appears to be easing, according to research conducted by E-Skills UK, a London-based training agency. In its latest quarterly bulletin, the nonprofit,...

8.39M.(GLOBAL FACT)(number of WiMax users in China )(Brief article)
May 7, 2007... 8.39M Projected number of WiMax users in China in 2011, two years after the technology is expected to become widely available in that country. SOURCE: YANKEE GROUP RESEARCH INC., BOSTON

AOL LLC.(Briefly Noted)(web portal launch)(America Online Inc.)(Brief article)
May 7, 2007... AOL LLC has launched a Web portal in India that combines services like instant messaging and e-mail with local content from India's film industry and other sources. The AOL offering will compete with portals already established in India by...

Hynix Semiconductor Inc.(Briefly Noted)(chip factory planned)(Brief article)
May 7, 2007... Hynix Semiconductor Inc. announced late last month that it has broken ground on a 3.8 trillion won ($4.1 billion U.S.) chip factory in Chongju, South Korea. Hynix, based in Ichon, South Korea, plans to produce NAND flash memory chips, which are...

CA Inc.(Briefly Noted)(outsourcing contract with Achievo Corp.)(Brief article)
May 7, 2007... CA Inc. has signed up outsourcing vendor Achievo Corp. to support its Chinese customers. Under terms of the agreement, San Ramon, Calif.-based Achievo will provide implementation, customization and maintenance services for CA software used in...

Telefonica SA.(Briefly Noted)(acquires 10% stake in Telecom Italia SpA)(Brief article)
May 7, 2007... Telefonica SA in Madrid has agreed to acquire a 10% stake in Rome-based Telecom Italia SpA for [euro]2.3 billion ($3.1 billion U.S.). The deal ends months of speculation about the future of the Italian telecommunications firm, which has...

Several U.K.-based and international firms.(Briefly Noted)(Green Technology Initiative)(Brief article)
May 7, 2007... Several U.K.-based and international firms last week launched a consortium whose goal is to create programs to reduce the environmental impact of IT systems in England. The Green Technology Initiative, whose founders include Cisco Systems Inc.,...

Superiority complex.(OPINION)(China's Information technology industry)(Editorial)
May 7, 2007... THE SHANGHAI NO. 2 Machine Tool Works Factory, located on a nondescript street in the heart of the sprawling East China city for which it is named, stands as an austere testimony to the Chinese government's emphasis on strength through...

Security isn't just avoiding Microsoft.(OPINION)
May 7, 2007... WE'VE all heard IT professionals imagine how secure their networks would be if they just didn't have to use any Microsoft products. I've had to listen to clients kvetch for hours on end about how Microsoft makes their lives miserable and...

Tech flops are in the eye of the beholder.(Letter to the editor)
May 7, 2007... I READ WITH amusement your story about technology and concepts that were highly hyped but then flopped ["Don't Believe the Hype: The 21 Biggest Technology Flops," Computerworld.com, April 4]. I have had paralyzed arms and hands for 45 years,...

Think binary.(Letter to the editor)
May 7, 2007... THERE ARE 10 kinds of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't. Thanks to Gary Anthes, there are probably a few more now who do ["Binary Basics," Strategies & Tactics, March 26]. Thanks for an engaging article on...

IRS laptop logic.(Letter to the editor)
May 7, 2007... HOW CAN IRS Commissioner Mark Everson be taken seriously when he says the IRS is "unaware" of identity theft tied to its stolen laptops ["Report: 490 IRS Laptops Lost or Stolen Over Nearly Three Years," Computerworld.com, April 5]?...

Readers love their Firefox Extensions.(Letter to the editor)
May 7, 2007... AS AN alternative to Video-Downloader, I suggest the UnPlug extension ["Top 10 Firefox Extensions to Avoid," Computerworld.com, April 10]. It can consult sites like VideoDownloader, but it defaults to just digging through the page locally to...

Crisis over: now what? Once a data breach happens, what you do next makes all the difference.(STRATEGIES & TACTICS)
May 7, 2007... The news just keeps getting worse: We now know that more than 45 million credit and debit card numbers were stolen in the TJX Companies Inc. data breach. Over the past few months, the scope of the problem seemed to grow with each announcement....

Security appliances: are they good enough? The answer depends on where, why and how they're used--and what else is in the mix.(STRATEGIES & TACTICS)
May 7, 2007... BEST-OF-BREED security software lets data center operators tailor protection to their exact needs. But some midsize companies or branch offices without dedicated security experts may prefer a simpler approach. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ...

Left coast perks: big-city culture offsets the big-ticket housing prices for these Best Places to Work.(BEST PLACES SHOWCASE: PACIFIC)
May 7, 2007... COSMOPOLITAN LIVING, access to "extreme" recreational activities and proximity to vibrant cultural meccas like Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle are factors that draw technology workers in droves to the nation's Pacific region. Typically,...

Do you need to reduce IT Cost and Complexity? Computerworld's IT Executive Summit has the answers.
May 7, 2007... May 15, 2007 * Philadelphia, Pennsylvania The Ritz-Carlton, Philadelphia 8:00am to Noon Reducing IT Cost and Complexity via Grid, SOA and Virtualization 8:00am to 8:45am Registration and Networking Breakfast 8:45am to...

Phase-change memory.(QUICK STUDY)
May 7, 2007... THERE'S A new contender coming to the realm of nonvolatile memory and storage, which enables data to remain intact when the power has been shut off. For decades, the chief medium here has been magnetic disk. But as computers get smaller...

When offshoring comes to infosec: our manager gets word that some information security operations will be outsourced, and it has him worried.(SECURITY MANAGER'S JOURNAL)
May 7, 2007... OFFSHORING IT work is nothing new for my company, but I have dreaded the day when I would be asked to offshore some of our information security work. So, when I tell you that I spent last week in India, you'll understand that it wasn't just the...

IT pros fear severe data breaches.(SECURITY LOG)(Brief article)
May 7, 2007... One third of 1,400 IT professionals surveyed by McAfee Inc. worldwide earlier this year said they believe that a major data breach could put their companies out of business. Nonetheless, the respondents reported average spending on data...

Spam up in volume and total cost.(SECURITY LOG)(Brief article)
May 7, 2007... Total spam has risen 222% since November 2005, with 125% of the increase occurring in the past six months, according to Postini Inc. Spammers have gone from distributing self-propagating Internet worm viruses to creating botnets. Meanwhile, a...

Start-up enters the virus fight.(SECURITY LOG)(Robot Genius Inc.)(Spyberus anti virus software)(Brief article)
May 7, 2007... Start-up Robot Genius Inc. claims that its client software offers a new way to fight malware. Spyberus uses a driver-based filtering technique to monitor and track all installed files on a system. The company says Spyberus detects malware and...

Soto to lead first N.M. Department of IT.(EXEC TRACK)(New Mexico)(Brief article)
May 7, 2007... Roy Soto has been appointed secretary of New Mexico's new Department of Information Technology, which was created by the recent merger of the Chief Information Office with the Information Systems Division and the Communications Division of the...

Canadian Pacific names McQuade COO.(EXEC TRACK)(Kathryn McQuade)(Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd.)(chief operating officer)(Brief article)
May 7, 2007... Kathryn McQuade has been selected to be executive vice president and chief operating officer at Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. in Calgary, Alberta. She will be responsible for integrating the company's operations, IT and strategic sourcing...

Mayberry-Stewart takes N.Y. CIO post.(EXEC TRACK)(Melodie Mayberry-Stewart)( New York )(Brief article)
May 7, 2007... Melodie Mayberry-Stewart has been named CIO for New York state. Previously, she was chief technology officer for the city of Cleveland. Earlier in her career, she founded Black Diamond IT Consulting Group. Prior to that, she worked in IT...

Gupta chosen CIO at Heidrick & Struggles.(EXEC TRACK)(Sanjay Gupta)(Heidrick & Struggles International Inc.)(Brief article)
May 7, 2007... Heidrick & Struggles International Inc. announced that Sanjay Gupta has joined the Chicago-based executive search firm as senior vice president and CIO. He will report to CEO L. Kevin Kelly. Previously, he was managing partner at Gartner Inc....

Tripping on the red carpet treatment.(STRATEGIES & TACTICS)
May 7, 2007... MY FAVORITE AIRLINE recently gave me the red carpet treatment, and I didn't like it one bit. It reminded me of the abject stupidity of some of our generally accepted notions about customer service and that we need to think more carefully about...

File serving bolsters CGI film development: studio expects a 50% increase in storage efficiency.(NEWS)(computer-generated imagery)(Imagi Animation Studios )
May 7, 2007... Imagi Animation Studios has pledged to deliver a computer-generated imagery (CGI) animated film to movie audiences every eight months. Since that process typically takes 18 months now, the studio knew it would have to give its storage...

Do you need to reduce IT Cost and Complexity? Computerworld's IT Executive Summit has the answers.(Calendar)
May 7, 2007... May 16, 2007 * Washington, DC Willard Intercontinental Washington 8:00am to Noon Reducing IT Cost and Complexity via Grid, SOA and Virtualization 8:00am to 8:45am Registration and Networking Breakfast 8:45am to 9:00am ...

Software Town.(FRANKLY SPEAKING)
May 7, 2007... "SOFTWARE PRICES will eventually fall to zero. The open-source software movement has already started that commoditization." That pronouncement came last week from MIT professor Michael A. Cusumano at a one-day Silicon Valley conference called...

Good ideas, bad ideas.(SHARK TANK)(information technology professionals)
May 7, 2007... For almost a year, this IT pilot fish has noticed an ad hoc wireless network at work called "cybercafe." With few neighbors near the office, fish figures it's odd but doesn't worry about it--until his boss discovers it. "He came to me asking,...

BI tools still facing user push-back: IT execs say ROI is hard to measure but tout technology's business value.(business intelligence, return on investment)
May 14, 2007... Business intelligence tools can bring a host of advantages to companies, but IT shops must first ensure that the technology is accepted by business users, said a panel of IT executives at the Microsoft Business Intelligence Conference here last...

Visa seeks security unanimity: presses app vendors to follow its lead.(NEWS)
May 14, 2007... Visa U.S.A. Inc. is quietly intensifying its campaign to ensure that vendors of payment processing applications comply with a set of data security guidelines it is pushing as a companion to the PCI standard for securing credit and debit card...

Missouri University hit by hackers.(AT DEADLINE)
May 14, 2007... The Social Security numbers of more than 22,300 current and former University of Missouri students were stolen in the second breach of the institution's computer systems in the past year. University officials said the attack was launched from...

Microsoft cuts Viridian features.(AT DEADLINE)(Brief article)
May 14, 2007... A month after Microsoft Corp. pushed back the beta release of its Windows Server virtualization software, code-named Viridian, the company dropped several key features of the product. Microsoft said it cut the live migration feature that lets...

Sun weighs GPL for OpenSolaris.(Sun Microsystems Inc., GNU general public license)(Brief article)
May 14, 2007... Sun Microsystems Inc. is evaluating whether to release OpenSolaris under the GNU general public license, company Chairman Scott McNealy said. He said that there have been nearly 8 million downloads of Solaris since it became available under the...

Red Hat sets Global Desktop schedule.(AT DEADLINE)
May 14, 2007... Red Hat Inc. has unveiled the Global Desktop operating system jointly developed with Intel Corp. The desktop software, aimed at small business and local government users, was introduced during the annual Red Hat Summit last week in San Diego....

Touch-screen ballots voted out in Florida: governor set to sign bill making optical scan the system of choice.(NEWS)
May 14, 2007... THE FLORIDA Legislature this month passed a bill that would require all voting districts in the state to replace most touch-screen voting systems with optical scan devices. The bill is expected to be signed within days by Gov. Charlie Crist....

EMC adds VMware support to ControlCenter: storage manager update supports virtual servers but isn't cluster-aware.(NEWS)
May 14, 2007... EMC CORP. is set to end a two-year wait by its users for a new version of its flagship ControlCenter storage resource management (SRM) software. Version 6.0 of the software, to be introduced this week, includes support for EMC's virtual...

NetApp set to launch de-duplication tool.(Network Appliance Inc.)
May 14, 2007... Network Appliance Inc. this week plans to launch its first data de-duplication technology for primary corporate storage systems. The new NetApp Advanced Single Instance Storage (A-SIS) software provides de-duplication across NetApp's...

Amazon settles suit, signs pact with IBM.(BRIEFS)(Brief article)
May 14, 2007... Amazon.com Inc. has paid IBM an undisclosed amount of money to settle all outstanding patent lawsuits between the two companies. The two firms have also signed a long-term patent cross-licensing agreement that gives Amazon access to IBM's...

VMware updates Workstation tool.(introduces updated version of virtualization software)(Brief article)
May 14, 2007... VMware Inc. has unveiled a new version of its workstation virtualization product that includes support for Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Vista operating system and dual monitors. The new VMware Workstation 6 tool also features the ACE Option Pack,...

Cisco reports profit, revenue growth.(Cisco Systems Inc.)(Brief article)
May 14, 2007... Cisco Systems Inc. reported strong growth in revenue and profits for its fiscal third quarter, during which it made several acquisitions that it expects to help drive Web 2.0 initiatives. CISCO BY THE NUMBERS REVENUE PROFIT ...

SAP to acquire software vendor.(OutlookSoft Corp.)(Brief article)
May 14, 2007... SAP AG has agreed to acquire OutlookSoft Corp., a maker of performance management software, for an undisclosed sum. SAP said it expects the acquisition to boost its standing among corporate chief financial officers. The deal is expected to...

Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat ...(Postal Regulatory Commission reccomends raise in rates to control junk mail)
May 14, 2007... Neither Snow, nor Rain, nor Heat... stays the relentless arrival of junk mail and spam. After spending far too much time and money fighting to keep spam out of corporate in-boxes, it's likely that IT workers often go home to a pile of junk...

And e-mail is the killer app for ...(Aventail Corp.'s Connect Mobile)(Brief article)
May 14, 2007... And e-mail is the killer app for... mobile users, so they need protection, too. That's the idea behind Connect Mobile for Smartphones from Aventail Corp. in Seattle. Chris Witeck, director of product marketing, claims that many IT managers...

Charge your handhelds ...(WildCharge Inc. to launch battery charger WildCharger pad)(Brief article)
May 14, 2007... Charge your handhelds... without plugging them in. Come this July, WildCharge Inc. in Scottsdale, Ariz., will begin selling its WildCharger pad, which lets you recharge handhelds, cell phones, iPods and other devices simply by setting them on...

California sues training firm.(Micro-Skills San Diego LLC)(Brief article)
May 14, 2007... The state of California has filed a lawsuit against a defunct computer training school for closing its doors without refunding $2.5 million in tuition fees. Micro-Skills San Diego LLC, which operated from 1999 through last October, is charged...

Marvell CEO retains post after scandal.(Sehat Sutardja, Marvell Technology Group Ltd.)(Brief article)
May 14, 2007... Marvell Technology Group Ltd. said that its co-founder and its CEO will remain with the company despite their roles in stock backdating fraud. However, CEO Sehat Sutardja will step down as chairman, and co-founder Weili Dai will shift from...

Microsoft updates office for Mac suite.(Microsoft Office 2004 for Macintosh)(Brief article)
May 14, 2007... Microsoft Corp.'s Macintosh business unit has released an update of the Office 2004 for Mac suite of business software. The new version offers improved security features, including fixes for vulnerabilities that an attacker could use to...

Siemens splits OpenScape platform.(Siemens Communications Inc.)(Brief article)
May 14, 2007... Siemens Communications Inc. last week expanded its OpenScape platform into three products. The line includes OpenScape Enterprise, a new version of the original product; OpenScape VoiceLink, which focuses on integrating desktop phones with a...

Census Bureau takes stock of its handhelds: agency starts to test new devices to gauge usability.(NEWS)
May 14, 2007... ABOUT 1,400 U.S. Census Bureau workers carrying wireless handhelds began fanning out across Fayetteville, N.C., and Stockton, Calif., last week in a dress rehearsal to see how the devices will be used during the 2010 census. Initially, the...

Microsoft, Packeteer team up on WAN accelerator.(NEWS)
May 14, 2007... Microsoft Corp. and Packeteer Inc. last week jointly announced a branch office appliance designed to provide WAN throughput optimization capabilities in tandem with native Windows applications. With the new Packeteer iShaper device, IT...