Opinion

There’s No Place Like ‘Homepage’

The concept of a domain name has always fascinated me — so much so that I at one time pondered writing a book on its history. Seemingly overnight, the whole concept of a “name” that matched an IP address became a must-have for corporate branding. A

How Managing Applications Is Like Managing a Baseball Team

Baseball managers know that unless you monitor their health and performance of your players, you aren’t optimizing the performance of the team. The same can be said for your applications and how your employees use them. Or as Yogi Berra put it: “You

What IT Vendors Can Learn From an Airplane Redesign

Boeing’s redesign of the overhead call buttons should be a reminder to all IT vendors that it’s better late than never to listen to your customers.

Houston, We Have an Xbox: Microsoft Opens 10th Store

Microsoft may actually be serious about this retail thing as it opens store number 10 in a Houston mall complete with a performance by pop singer Kelly Clarkson. At least four more Microsoft stores are set to open this year.

Leaked Images of Nokia’s First Windows Phone Smartphone

Images of what appears to be Nokia’s first Windows-Phone-powered smartphone were leaked today, along with a video of the company’s CEO talking up the device during a private presentation.

RIM to BlackBerry Torch Users: Downgrade Your OS for More Battery Life

RIM has issued an advisory that instructs BlackBerry Torch 9800 users running AT&T’s latest official BlackBerry OS to downgrade to another version for extended battery life.

Foursquare, AmEx Let Credit Card Users “Checkin” and Save

An expanded partnership between American Express and foursquare will allow users of the location-based social network to save money on purchases at certain retailers just by “checking in” and using their AmEx cards.

Implementing Territories in CRM Systems

Defining and managing sales territories is one of the key responsibilities of sales management. But territories in CRM systems can be one of the hardest parts of the implementation.

3 Steps for Better Data Center Capacity Planning

Capacity planning is no longer just a process aimed at forecasting hardware needs; it’s the key to understanding and optimizing the cost of running business services through platform selection. Forrester recommends updating today’s capacity planning

BPOS Cloud Outage: Microsoft Tweets to Calm Nerves, Give Updates

Microsoft quickly restored today’s ill-timed but short-lived BPOS outage, using Twitter as a forum to update and reassure customers. But is this one cloud outage too far?

Enterprise 2.0 Conference Touts Social, Product Announcements

Social tools that build communities, help find subject experts and connect global workforces were on everyone’s mind this week at the Enterprise 2.0 conference in Boston. Here’s a recap plus a handful of product announcements.

RIM to Discontinue BES Express for IBM Lotus Domino?

RIM could soon stop offering its free BES Express for IBM Lotus Domino to SMBs and other small organizations, though the Microsoft Exchange version should still be available.

End of the Wild West for IT?

IT hasn’t stabilized into a set of well-defined and accepted practices. This isn’t a sign of chaos or bad management. It means we’re doing what we’re supposed to be doing — constantly innovating and finding better ways of doing things.

Know Thyself: Career Advice for the Clueless

Lack of self-awareness prevents multitudes of people from advancing in their careers. The conundrum they face is that they’re too enamored with their egos to realize that they’re the ones holding themselves back.

A Humorous Take on BlackBerry CEO Structure, from Joy of Tech

RIM’s current struggles in the smartphone market are no joke, but JoyofTech.com offers a humorous take on the situation by poking fun at its co-CEOs.

ERP Vendor Shopping: 5 Must-Haves For Your ERP Requirements List

It’s time to go ERP shopping: here are some things to keep in mind.

iPad App: Facebook vs. Flipboard

After a year of hedging, Facebook needs an iPad app now.

Rebuilding IT post-recession: Hire for the future, not the past

Ax Falls at RIM as BlackBerry Maker Starts Cutting Jobs

Ailing BlackBerry-maker RIM reportedly cut some 200 jobs on Monday, as part of an ongoing “cost optimization program.”

Fingerprinting, Printing, and IT Spending in General

The past few days I’ve been cranking on some stories that pertain to the finance chief’s role in IT decision-making. The common thread through the articles: Not only does the CFO have a broadening scope on spending, but also the chance to be a hero,

Understanding Storage Costs for Desktop Virtualization

High storage costs could derail a virtual desktop infrastructure project. Here’s a look at what you need to understand about the ROI value of your project and the implications that three storage issues could have on it.

Shades of SCO-IBM lawsuit as HP sues Oracle over Itanium?

Will HP do more harm than good to its own reputation by taking Oracle to court in this fight?

Shocking: Facebook Makes People…More Social

A new study deciphers the link between Facebook and personal relationships, but really, how surprising are its findings?

Hands On Video: The Samsung 900x Ultra-Thin Laptop

Samsung is not a big name in laptops, but the 900x is one seriously sleek and powerful Windows 7 machine.

Dolby Sues RIM, Wants All BlackBerry Sales Stopped in U.S. and Germany

RIM is facing another patent infringement suit that could potentially lead to suspended BlackBerry sales in the U.S. and Germany

Cloud CIO: In Defense of Corporate IT

The threat that cloud computing poses to CIOs and IT professionals’ careers does not stem from cloud computing rendering corporate IT departments irrelevant. Rather, it comes from CIOs’ and IT professionals’ failure to face the revolution that cloud

Microsoft-Branded Windows 8 Tablets Would Burn Bridges

Microsoft could put itself in financial and political peril if it builds its own Windows 8 tablets, as recent rumors suggest.

Development team ethics, Part II – The Cesspool

Are standard project management practices really unethical? Or are they simply the lesser of the available evils?

RIM Reportedly Teams With UI Firm for BlackBerry Design Boost

RIM is teaming up with YOU i Labs to give the BlackBerry OS a much-needed design overhaul, according to a new report.

Following the (Social Network) Herd

Here’s another academic take on the financial implications of social media: Earlier in a Risky Business contribution I discussed the finding by a team of researchers at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Business that traders acting in sync