CIO’s 50 Most Popular Articles

9 Reasons Why Application Developers Think Their CIO Is Clueless

From being a control freak to being a vendor puppet, here are nine behaviors management needs to steer clear of or risk being labeled “clueless.”

How to Identify Bad CIOs in Their Natural Habitat

Bad CIOs are a blight on the IT profession and on the organizations that employ them. The following list of behaviors common among bad CIOs will prevent you from hiring them into your organizations. If they’re already there, it will give you good reason to eliminate them.

Six Free BlackBerry Downloads You Don’t Want to Miss

Get the most out of your RIM BlackBerry smartphone without ever opening your wallet. Check out the following six free downloads.

5 Things You’ll Love about Firefox 3

From the “Awesome Bar” to just plain better performance, the latest version of the open source browser includes some great improvements.

Six (More) Free BlackBerry Apps You Don’t Want to Miss

Some things in life really are free. Check out these six fantastic BlackBerry applications and do more with your RIM smartphone without dropping a dime.

Four Secrets to Becoming a Rising IT Star

To make sure your climb up the career ladder goes fast and easy, you’ll need to earn the trust of your colleagues and demonstrate your promotability.

Six Secrets of Top-Notch Business Analysts

While a business analyst’s responsibilities may vary by company and project, every IT employee and businessperson knows a good or bad BA when he sees one. Here’s what the good ones do very well.

Seven Fantastic Free Windows Mobile Apps

Do more than you thought possible with your Windows Mobile smartphone or Pocket PC, without spending a dime. From beating international roaming charges to easy backup, here’s the scoop on seven free downloads you shouldn’t miss.

Court Finds Dell Guilty of Fraud

The Albany County Supreme Court found that Dell deprived customers of technical support that they bought or were eligible for under warranty in several ways.

Best BlackBerry Shortcuts: Aflac’s Mobile Guru Shares Tips

Aflac’s BlackBerry guru shares power tips and tricks for your RIM smartphone. Here’s how to improve your typing, messaging, browsing, attachment handling and more.

Project Management: The 14 Most Common Mistakes IT Departments Make

Nearly 70 percent of IT projects are dogged by cost-overruns or aren’t completed on schedule due to poor planning, poor communication or poor resource allocation. This story assess the impact of the 14 most common project management mistakes and offers ways IT groups can avoid them.

Why You Need a Project Management Office (PMO)

Companies seeking more efficiency and tighter monitoring of IT projects are opening project management offices (PMO) in growing numbers.

RIM Execs on the Best BlackBerry Apps: Eight Downloads

Research in Motion executives, including a VP of global alliances, a product management director and the co-CEO, share their favorite BlackBerry downloads.

Why You Need a Project Management Office (PMO)

Companies seeking more efficiency and tighter monitoring of IT projects are opening project management offices (PMO) in growing numbers.

Windows XP SP3: The Perfect Reason to Avoid Upgrading to Windows Vista

Companies resisting a migration to Windows Vista may want to carefully examine the latest service pack for Windows XP. After you look at XP SP3, says Steven Vaughan-Nichols, you won’t even consider “upgrading” to Windows Vista SP1 anytime soon. He does a head-to-head technology comparison.

Five Ways to Put Your Value in the Spotlight

A key to getting ahead in your career is to generate buzz. Getting out of the office and into the social arena, blogging and participating in Web 2.0 venues are just a few ways you can make sure your praises get sung.

Five Essential RIM BlackBerry Keyboard Tips and Tricks

Add another notch to your Research In Motion BlackBerry black belt with these great smartphone keyboard tips and tricks.

Five Things About SAP’s Strategy That You Need to Know

An AMR Research report details SAP’s strategies for its enterprise software product releases, areas of growth, evolving platforms, industry and vertical specialties, and new product suites.

Safari Flaw Worse Than First Thought, Microsoft Warns

The Safari bug allows attackers to litter a victim’s desktop with executable files, an attack known as “carpet bombing.”

How to Develop the Next Generation of IT Leaders

Retirement, outsourcing and a tight talent supply are thinning IT’s leadership ranks. CIOs talk about the problem and share tactics for growing tomorrow’s leaders.

Five Ways CIOs Can Impress Their CEOs: Today and in the Future

CEOs will increasingly demand that IT leaders excel in leadership, strategic thinking, marketing IT, business and communication. Prepare for the change.

How to Network: 12 Tips for Shy People

Schmoozing is a trial for shy people, but armed with these common-sense tips they can increase their networking mojo.

Secrets of Successful IT Teams: Socially Connected Employees

Successful IT management requires leaders to understand the strengths, weaknesses and connections of the people on their team. A software developer tells how his former boss used social network analysis tools to identify rising stars and strengthen his bench.

RIM BlackBerry Tips and Tricks: More Keyboard Shortcuts for Power Users

Always looking for new ways to do more with your RIM BlackBerry? Learn the following tips and tricks, including two from the co-CEO of RIM himself, and take your smartphone prowess to a whole new level.

Cisco Systems’ New Client/Server Messaging Protocol Announced

Are your developers using SOAP, CORBA or EJBs? You might want to take a look at Etch. It’s language-, platform- and transport-agnostic, and Cisco is planning to release it as open source.

Meet the Millionaire CIOs

CIOs rank among top paid execs at 47 Fortune 1000 companies.

5 Things Grady Booch Has Learned About Complex Software Systems

The father of UML and design pattern enthusiast shares his fundamentals about developing, delivering and deploying big software projects.

10 Unforgettable Moments

A PC industry without Bill Gates is almost unthinkable. And yet it’s almost upon us. Here are some fond memories.

Portfolio Management Done Right

At a time when CEOs are demanding that technology investments return value, CIOs who don’t have control over their IT project portfolios are fighting losing battles.

Five Tips: Get More Battery Life from Your RIM BlackBerry

Nothing lasts forever–especially your BlackBerry’s battery. But you can prolong the life of your power supply. Follow these five tips to extend your RIM smartphone’s run time.

Managing and Motivating Developers: Tips for Management Cluefulness

Encouraging productivity from your programming staff–at least in the developers’ estimation–requires a few special techniques.

Free BlackBerry Downloads: Five Open Source Mobile Apps

Can’t get enough free BlackBerry downloads? Don’t worry, we’re here to help. This week we’ve gathered a handful of open source apps to help customize–and optimize–your RIM smartphone.

Free BlackBerry Software: Five (More) Apps for Your RIM Smartphone

We know you BlackBerry lovers can never get enough software for your RIM smartphones–especially free downloads. So we assembled another handful of BlackBerry applications you don’t want to miss. Grab all five of ’em right here, gratis.

BlackBerry Bible: Everything You Need to Know About Your RIM Smartphone

From keyboard shortcuts and tricks from mobile experts, to free software downloads, battery life tips, device reviews and insider commentary, we offer you our expert guide to help you master your smartphone and earn a BlackBerry black belt.

The Truth About Software as a Service (SaaS)

Vendors say software as a service will cut costs and increase efficiency. They say it’s enterprise ready. Does that sound too good to be true? It is.

Vendor Matrix

Learn the key products, pros / cons and claim to fame of vendors from AMD-VMware.

Staffing for Diversity: The Business Case for an Inclusive Information Technology Workforce

Women, minorities and immigrants will make up a big part of the future information technology workforce. But as Southern Company has discovered, staffing for diversity isn’t easy. Find out how the regional utility conglomerate has tried to make its workplace more welcoming.

20 Things You Can Do In 20 Minutes to Be More Successful at Work

There are things you can do in just 20 minutes that can have a meaningful and even a long term positive effect on your IT organization, your career, your technology knowledge, your management skills and your relationship with the business. We’ve gathered 20 of the best ideas we could find.

Top 10 Reasons Why People are Making SOA Fail

Why do people make SOA fail? Let me count the ways.

Understanding Microsoft SharePoint in a Web 2.0 World

While SaaS offerings from enterprise 2.0 vendors creep up, and facing more pressure from IBM and Google with their collaborative software products, Microsoft believes SharePoint will give companies all the Web 2.0 they’ll ever need.

What It’s Like To…Be a CIO

No one ever said being a CIO was easy. And over the past few years, it rarely has been. But at least it hasn’t been dull.

Open Source: Are Macs the Red-Headed Stepchild?

One benefit to open-source applications is they can run on any operating system you want. But getting open-source software developed for the Mac is — depending on whom you ask — slow as molasses or quick as lightning.

Why Business Analysts Are So Important for IT and CIOs

A new Forrester report sheds light on this little known, often misunderstood but critical liaison role that can unite the business and IT on enterprise projects, systems development and business strategy.

BlackBerry How To: Use Your RIM Smartphone As a Tethered Modem for Your PC

Use your BlackBerry as a tethered modem to connect your computer to the Web and save yourself countless headaches–and a wad of cash. Follow these four steps and you may never have to tinker with public Wi-Fi hotspots in coffee shops, airports or hotels again.

How to Identify Bad CIOs in Their Natural Habitat

Bad CIOs are a blight on the IT profession and on the organizations that employ them. The following list of behaviors common among bad CIOs will prevent you from hiring them into your organizations. If they’re already there, it will give you good reason to eliminate them.

Why Ruby on Rails Succeeded

The software development framework has earned a vocal following and created loyal users. One Ruby expert explains what this community did right, and how others can learn from it.

NASA Phoenix Mission to Mars: An Out-Of-This-World Content Management Challenge

When NASA’s Phoenix Mars lander touches down and begins a historic mission on May 25, the images and video promise to be spectacular. Behind the scenes, an IT team must manage all that content: Here’s an inside look at their mission, strategies and tools, from content management to hardware hosting.

How Do Business Analysts Become Business Leaders?

A Forrester Research report offers several career paths for business analysts, details what IT skills are important, and provides survey results on what next-step positions offer the most opportunity.

Five Things the Boss Should Know About Microsoft’s LINQ

Do you think that LINQ is just another in a long series of odd Microsoft technologies? This database-meets-software-development technology could easily save your development staff time and avoid complexity!

How to Be a Successful Mentor

Mentoring matters when it comes to fostering leadership. Here’s how to do it right.

BlackBerry How To: Free Up Device Memory

Power users of Research In Motion (RIM) BlackBerry smartphones need all the device memory they can get. These seven tips can help free up memory and keep your handheld running as smoothly as possible.